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ANTI-POPERY 



OR 



HISTORY OF THE POPISH CHURCH: 

GIVING 

A FULL ACCOUNT OF ALL THE CUSTOMS OF THE PRIESTS 
AND friars; and the RITES and cere- 
monies OF THE popish RELIGION. 



IN FOUR PARTS. 



BY ANTHONY GAVIN 

ONS O? THE BOHAir CATHOLIC FBIESTS OF SARAOOSSA. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE INQUISITION OF GOA AND MACERATA. 



PHILADELPHM', 
PUBLISHED BY S. E. WALLINGTON & Co. 



18 37. 






Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1832, by 

S, E, WELLINGTONS Co. 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern Dis- 
trict of Pennsylvania. 



PREFACE. 



When I first designed to publish the following sheets, it was 
a matter of some doubt with me, whether or no I should put my 
name to them ; for if I did, I considered that I exposed myself to 
the malice of a great body of men, whp would endeavor on all 
occasions to injure me in my reputation and fortune, if not in my 
life; which last (to say no more) was no unnatural suspicion of a 
Spaniard, and one in my case, to entertain of some fiery zealots 
of the Church of Rome. 

But on the other hand, I foresaw, that if I concealed my name, 
a great part of the benefit intended to the public by this work 
might be lost. For I have often observed, as to books of this 
kind, where facts only are related, (the truth of which in the 
greatest measure must depend on the credit of the relator,) that 
wherever the authors, out of caution or fear, have concealed them- 
selves, the event commonly has been, that even the friends to 
the cause, which the facts support, give but a cold assent to 
them, and the enemies reject them entirely as calumies, and 
forgeries, without ever giving themselves the trouble of ex- 
amining into the truth of that which the relator dares not openly 
avow. On this account whatever, the consequences may be, I 
resolved to put my name to this, and accordingly did so to the 
first proposals which were made for printing it. 

But, by this means, I am at the same time obliged to say 
something in vindication of myself, from several aspersions 
which I lie under, and which indeed I have already in a great 
degree been a sufferer by, in the opinion of many worthy gentle- 
men. The first is, that I never was a priest, because I have not 
my letters of orders to produce. This, it must be confessed, is a 



6 PRE FAC E. 

testimonial, without which no one has a right, or can expect to 
be regarded as a person of that character; unless he has very 
convincing arguments to offer the world, that, in his circum- 
stances, no such thing could reasonably be expected from him ; 
and whether or no mine are such, I leave the world to judge. 
My case was this : 

As soon as it had pleased God by his grace to overcome in me 
the prejudices of my education in favor of that corrupt church, in 
which I had been raised, and to inspire me with a resolution to 
embrace the protestant religion, I saw, that in order to preserve 
my life, I must immediately quit Spain, where all persons, who 
do not publicly profess the Romish religion, are condemned to 
death. Upon this I resolved to lose no time in making my 
escape, but how to make it was a matter of the greatest difficulty 
and danger. However, I determined rather to hazzard all events 
than either to continue in that church, or expose myself to certain 
death ; and accordingly made choice of disguises as the most 
probable method of favoring my escape. The fisrt I made use 
of, was the habit of an officer in the army : and as I was sure 
there would be strict inquiry and search made after me, I durst 
not bring along with me my letters of orders, which, upon my 
being suspected in any place, for the person searched after, or 
or any other unhappy accident, would have been an undeniable 
evidence against me, and consequently would have condemned 
me to the inquisition. By this means I got safely to London, 
where I was most civilly received by the late Earl Stanhope, to 
whom I had the honor to be known when he was in Saragossa. 
He told me that there where some other new converts of my 
nation in town, and that he hoped I would follow the command 
of Jesus to Peter, viz. When thou art converted strengthen thy 
brethren. 

Upon this I went to the late Lord Bishop of London, and by 
his lordship's order, his domestic chaplain examined nie three 
days together ; and as I could not produce the letters of orders, 
he advised me to get a certificate from my Lord Stanhope, that 
he knew me, and that I was a priest, which I obtained the very 



PREFACE. 7 

same day ; and upon this certificate, his lordship received my 
recantation, after morning prayers in his chapel of Somerset- 
house, and licensed me to preach and officiate in a Spanish con- 
gregation composed of my Lord Stanhope, several English 
officers, emd a few Spanish officers, new converts. By virtue of 
this license, I preached two yesrs and eight months, first in the 
chapel of Queen's Square, Westminster, and afterwards in Ox- 
enden's chapel, near the hay-market. But my benefactor, desirous 
to settle me in the English church, advised me to go chaplin to 
the Preston man-of-war, where I might have a great deal of 
leisure to learn the language ; and being presented and approved 
by the Bishop of London, the lords of the Admiralty granted 
me the warrant or commission of chaplain. Then his lordship, 
though he had given his consent in writing, to preach in Spanish 
enlarged it in the warrant of the Admiralty, which license I 
shall take leave to insert here at large. 

Whersas the Reverend Mr. Anthony Gavin was recommended 
to me by the right honorable Lord Stanhope, and by the same 
and other English gentlemen, I was certified that the said Re- 
verend Mr. Gavin was a secular priest, and master of arts in the 
university of the city of Saragossa, in the kingdom of Arragon, 
in Spain, and that they knew him in the said city, and conversed 
with him several times : This is to certify that the said Reverend 
Mr. Gavin, after having publicly and solemnly abjured the errors 
of the Romish religion, and being thereupon by me reconciled to 
the church of England, on the 3d day of January, 1715-16, he 
then had my leave to officiate, in the Spanish language, in the 
chapel of Queen's Square, Westminster ; and now being appointed 
chaplain of his Majesty's ship the Preston, has my license to 
preach in English, and to administer the sacraments, at home 
and abroad, in all the churches and chapels of my diocess. 

Given under my hand, in London, the 13th of July, 1720. 

Signed JOHN LONDON. 

TJie certificate, licence, and warrant, may be seen at any time, 
for I have them by me. 

After that, the ship being put out of commission, and my Lord 



PRE PACE. 



Stanhope being in Hanover with the king, I came over to Ireland 
on the importunity of a friend, with a desire to stay here until 
my lord's return into England : But when I was thinking of 
going over again, I heard of my lord's death, and having in him 
lost my best patron, I resolved to try in this kingdom, whether 
I could find any settlement ; and in a few days after, by the favor 
of his grace my Lord Archbishop of Cashel, and the Reverend 
Dean Percival, I got the curacy of Gowran, which I served 
almost eleven months, by the license of my Lord Bishop of 
Ossory, who afterwards, upon my going to Cork, gave me his 
letters dismissory. 

I was in Cork very near a year, serving the cure of a parish 
near it, and the Rev. Dean Maule being at that time in London, 
and I being recommended to him to preach in his parish church 
of Shandon, he went to inquire about me to the Bishop of London, 
who, and several other persons of distinction, were pleased to 
give me a good character, as the Dean on my leaving him did 
me the favor to certify under his hand, together with my good 
behaviour during my stay in Cork. 

Now my case being such as I have represented it, I freely 
submit it to the judgment of every gentlemen of ingenuity and 
and candour to determine, whether it could be expected from me, 
that I should have my letters of orders to show : and yet whether 
there can be any tolerable reason to suspect my not having been 
a priest. I think it might be enough to silence all suspicions on 
this account, that I was received as a priest into the church of 
England, and licensed as such to preach and administer the 
sacrements both in that kingdom and this ; and I hope no one 
can imagine, that any of the bishops of the best constituted and 
governed churches upon earth, would admit any person to so 
sacred a trust, without their being fully satisfied that he was in 
orders. 

I shall, on this occasion, beg leave to mention what the Bishop 
of London said to me, when I told him I had not my letters of 
orders, but that my Lord Stanhope, and other gentlemen of 
honour and credit, who knew me in my native city of Saragossa, 



PREFACE. 



would certify, that I there was esteemed, and officiated as a 
priest. Bring such a certificate, said he, and I will receive and 
license you ; for I would rather depend upon it, than any letters 
ofordersjovi could produce, which, for ought I ^ould tell, you 
mi^it have forged. 

i hope what I have here said may convince even my enemies, 
of my being a clergyman : And how I have behaved myself as 
such, since I came into this kingdom, I appeal to those gentlemen 
I conversed with in Gowran, Gortroe and Cork, and for this last 
year and a half, to the officers of Col. Barrel, Brigadier Napper, 
Col. Hawley, Col. Newton, and Col. Lance's regiments, who 
I am sure will do me justice, and I desire no more of them ; and 
upon an inquiry into my behaviour, I flatter myself that the 
public will not lightly give credit to the ill reports spread abroad 
by my enemies. 

Another objection raised against me is, that I have perjured 
myself in discovering the private confessions which were made 
to me. In one point indeed they may call me perjured, and it is 
my comfort and glory that I am so in it, viz : That I have broke 
the oath I took, when I \vas ordained priest, which was, to live 
and die in the Roman Catholic faith. But as to the other per- 
jury charged upon me, they lie under a mistake ; for there is no 
oath of secrecy at all administered to confessors, as most protes- 
tants imagine. Secrecy indeed is recommended to all confessors 
by the casuists, and enjoined by the councils and popes so 
strictly, that if a confessor reveals (except in some particular 
cases) what is confessed to him, so as the penitent is discovered, 
he is to be punished for in the inquisition ; which, it must be 
owned, is a more effectual way of enjoining secrecy than oaths 
themselves. 

However, I am far from imagining, that because in this case 
I have broken no oath, I should therefore be guilty of no crime, 
though I revealed every thing which was committed to my trust 
as a confessor, of whatever ill consequence it might be to the 
penitent ; no, such a practice I take to be exceedingly criminal, 
and I do, from my soul, abhor it. 

2 



10 PREFACE. 

But nevertheless there are cases where, by the constitution of 
the church of Rome itself, the most dangerous secrets may and 
ought to be revealed : Such as those which are called " reserved 
cases," of which there are many ; some reserved to the Pope 
himself, as heresy ; some to his apostolic commissary or deputy, 
as ince&t in the first degree ,• some to the Bishop of the diocess, 
as the setting a neighhour^s house on fire. Now in such cases 
the confessor cannot absolve the penitent, and therefore he is 
obliged to reveal the confession to the person to whom the ab- 
solution of that sin is reserved ; though indeed he never mentions 
the penitent's name, or any circumstance by which he may be 
discovered. 

i- Again, there are other cases (such as a conspiracy against the 
^if^ of the Prince, or a traitorous design to overturn the government) 
which the confessor is obliged in conscience, and for the safety 
of the public, to reveal. 

But besides all these, whenever the patients's case happens 
to have any thing of an uncommon difficulty in it, common pru- 
dence, and a due regard to the faithful discharge of his office, 
will oblige a confessor to discover it to men of experience and 
judgment in casuistry, that he may have their advice how to 
proceed in it : And that is what confessors in Spain not only 
may do, but are bound by the word of a priest to do wherever 
they have an opportunity of consulting a college of confes- 
sors, or, as it is commonly called, a moral academy. 

I believe it may be of some service on the present occasion, to 
inform my readers what those moral academies are, which are to 
be met with through Spain, in every city and town where there 
is a number of secular and regular priest : But I shall speak 
only of those in the city of Saragossa, as being the most perfectly 
acquainted with them. 

A moral academy is a college or assembly consisting of 
several Father confessors, in which each of them proposes 
some moral case which has happened to him in confession, with 
an exact and particular account of confession, without mentioning 
the penitent's name : And the proponent having done this, every 
member is to deliver his opinion upon it. This is constantly 



PREFACE. 11 

practised every Friday, from two of the clock in the afternoon, 
till six, and sometimes till eight, as the cases proposed happen 
to be more or less difficult. But when there is an extraordinary 
intricate case to be resolved, and the members cannot agree in 
the resolution of it, they send one of their assembly to the great 
academy, which is a college composed of sixteen casuistical 
doctors, and four professors of divinity, the most learned and 
experienced in moral cases that may be had : and by them the 
case in debate is resolved^ and the resolution of it entered in the 
books of the academy by the consent of the president and mem- 
bers. 

The academy of the holy trinity, founded and very nobly en- 
dowed by Archbishop Gamboa, is one of the most famous in the 
city of Saragossa; and of it I was member for three years. 
I was very young and inexpert in cases of conscience, 
when I was first licensed to be a confessor; for the Pope 
having dispensed with thirteen months of the time reqiured by 
the cannons for the age of a priest (for which I paid sixty 
pistoles) I was ordained before I was twenty three years old, 
by Don Antonio Ibaunez de la Riva de Herrera, Archbishop of 
Saragossa, and Viceroy of Arragon, and at the same time 
licenesed by him to hear confessions of both sexes. In order 
then the better and more speedily to qualify myself for the 
office, I thought it my most prudent way to apply as soon as 
possible, to be admitted into this learned society, and as it 
happened, I had interest enough to succeed. 

Now among many statutes left by the founder to this academy 
one is this, viz : That every person who is chosen a mem- 
ber of it, is, on his admission, to promise upon the word of 
a priest, to give the whole assembly a faithful account of all the 
private confessions he has heard the week before, which have 
any thing in them difficult to be resolved ; yet so as not to men- 
tion any circumstance by which the penitents may be known. 

And for this end there is a book, where the secretary enters 
all the cases proposed and resolved every Friday ; and every 
third year there is, by the consent of the president and members 



12 PREFACE. 

of the academy, and the approbation of the Great One, a book 
printed containing all the cases resolved for three years before, 
and which is entitled, " compendium casuum moralium acade- 
miae S. S. trinitatis." The academy of the holy trinity is always 
composed of twenty members, so that every one may easily 
perceive, that each of the members may be acquainted in a year 
or two, with many hundreds of private confessions of all ranks 
and conditions of people ; besides those which were made to 
themselves : Which remark I only make, by the by, to satisfy 
some men, who, I am told, find fault with me for pretending to 
impose on the public for genuine, several confessions which 
where not made to myself, and consequently for the reality 
of which, I can have no sufficient authority. 

Now after all that has been said on this head, I believe I need 
not be at much trouble to vindicate myself from the imputation 
of any criminal breach of secrecy ; for if the reader observe, that 
on the foregoing grounds, there is no confession whatever which 
may not lawfully be revealed, (provided the confessor do not 
discover the penitent,) he cannot injustice condemn me for pub- 
lishing a few, by which it is morally impossible, in the present 
circumstances, that the penitents should be known. Had I been 
much more particular than I am in my relations, and mentioned 
even the names and every thing else I knew of the persons, 
there would scarce be a possibility (considering the distance and 
little intercourse there is between this place and Saragossa) of 
their suffering in any degree by it : And I need not observe that 
the chief, and indeed only reason of enjoining and keeping secre- 
cy, is the hazards the penitent may run by discovery, but I do 
assure the reader, that in every confession I have related, I have 
made use of feigned names, and avoided every circumstance by 
which I had the least cause to suspect the parties might be found 
out. And I assure him further, that most of the cases here pub- 
lished by me, are in their most material points, already printed 
in the compendiums of that moral academy of which I was a 
member. 

As for the reasons which moved me to publish this book, I 



PREFACE. 



13[ 



shall only say, that as the corrupt practices, which are the sub- 
ject of it, first set me upon examining into the principles of the 
church of Rome, and by that means of renouncing them ; so I 
thought that the making of them public might happily produce 
the same eflfect in some others. 

I did design on this occasion to give a particular account of 
the motive of my conversion, and leaving Spain ; but being con- 
fined to four hundred pages, I must leave that and some other 
things relating to the sacrements of the church of Rome, to the 
second part, which I intend to print if the public think fit to ea- 
courage me. 

I must beg the reader's pardon for my presumption in writing 
to him in his own language, on so short an acquaintance as I 
have with it. I hope he will excuse the many mistakes I have 
committed in the book: I shall be very well pleased to be told of, 
and I shall take the greater care to avoid them in the second part. 



PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. 

The preceding preface, which was written by the original au- 
thor of this valuable work, is published in his own words, in 
order that the reader may understand his motives and views in 
disclosing the important facts which had come to his knowledge 
in relation to Popery. Having abjured the errors of the Romish 
religion, he felt constrained to warn others of the insidious arts to 
which he had been himself the victim, and to point out the 
absurd contrivances by which the priesthood of that denomination 
impose upon the credulity of the ignorant and unsuspecting. In 
doing this he has given to the world a mass of facts which cannot 
be disbelieved, nor controverted, and which must satisfy every 
intelligent mind of the gros.s fallacy of the doctrines of that 
ancient church, and the dreadful corruptions practised by those 
who administer its concerns. 



14 PREFACE. 

To make this compilation more complete, we have added to 
the original work of Mr Gavin, an account of " The Inquisition 
of Goa," by the celebrated Dr. Buchanan, who travelled and re- 
sided in Asia ; an account of "The Inquisition at Macerata in 
Italy," by Mr. Bower. 



HISTORY OF THE POPISH CHURCH. 



PART I. 



OP THE ROMAK-CATHOLICS' AURlCtJLAll CONFESSION. 

Auricular confession being one of the five com- 
mandments of the Roman-Catholic Church, and a 
condition necessarily required in one of their sacra- 
ments ; and being too an article that will contribute 
very much to the discovery of many other errors of 
that communion, it may be proper to make use of 
the Master-Key, and begin with it : And first of all^ 
with the Father confessors, who are the only key- 
keepers of it. 

Though a priest cannot be licensed, by the conons 
of their church, to hear men's confessions, till he is 
thirty years, nor to confess women till forty years of 
age, yet ordinarily he gets a dispensation from the 
bishop, to whom his probity secrecy, and sober con- 
versation are represented by one of the diocesan* ex- 
aminators, his friend, or by some person of interest 

* Those that are appointed by the bishop, to examine those 
that are to be ordained, or licensed to preach and hear confessions. 



16 HISTORYOPTHE 

with his lordship ; and by that means he gets a con- 
fessor's Ucense, most commonly, the day he gets his 
letters of orders, viz. : Some at three-and-twenty, and 
some at four-and-twenty years of age, not only for 
men, but for women's confessions also. I say, some 
at three-and-twenty; for the Pope dispenses with 
thirteen months, to those that pay a sum of money ; 
of which I shall speak in another place. 

To priests thus licensed, to be judges of the tribu- 
nal of conscience, men and women discover their sins, 
their actions, their thoughts, nay, their very dreams, 
if they happen to be impure. I say, judges of the tri- 
bunal of concsience ; for when they are licensed, they 
ought to resolve any case (let it be ever so hard) pro- 
posed by the penitent : And by this means it must 
often happen, that a young man who, perhaps, does 
not know more than a few definitions (which he has 
learned in a little manual of some casuistical authors) 
of what is sin, shall sit in such a tribunal, to judge, 
in the most intricate cases, the consciences of men, and 
men too that may be his masters. 

I saw a reverend father* who had been eight-and- 
twenty years professor of divinity in one of the most 
considerablet universities of Spain, and one of the 
most famous men for his learning, in that religion, 

* Fr. James Garcia. 

fThe University of Saragossa, in the Kingdom of Arragon, in 
Spain, which, according to their historians, was buih by Sertori- 
ous. 



POPISHCHURCH. 17 

kneel down before a young* priest of twenty-four 
years of age, and confess his sins to him. Who 
-would not be surprised at them both ? A man fit to 
l3e the judge, to act the part of a criminal before an 
ignorant judge, who, I am sure, could scarcely then 
tell the titles of the Summ^ Morales.t 

Nay, the Pope, notwithstanding all Ms infallibility, 
doth kneel down before his confessor, tell him his 
«ins, heareth his correction, and receives and performs 
whatever penance he imposeth upon him. This is 
the only difference between the Pope's confessor, and 
the confessor of Kings and other persons, that all 
corifessors sit down to hear the Kings and other 
persons, but the Pope^s confessor kneels down him- 
self to hear the Holy Father. What, the holy one 
upon earth humble himself as a sinner ? Holiness 
and sin in one and the same subject, is a plain con- 
tradiction in terms. 

If we ask the Roman-Catholics, Why so learned 
men, and the Pope, do so ? They will answer, that 
they do it out of reverence to such a sacrament, out 
of humility, and to give a token and testimony of 
their hearty sorrow for their sins. And as for the 
Pope, they say he does it to show an example of hu- 
mility, as Jesus Christ did, when he washed the 
Apostles' feet. 
' This answer is true, but they do not say the whole 

* The thing happened to me when I was 24 years of age. 
fin this Moral Summ. Chap, xviii. of the requisites of a true 
penitent. 

3 



18 HISTORYOPTHE 

truth in it ; for, besides the aforesaid reasons, they 
have another, as Molina tells them, viz : That the 
penitent ought to submit entirely to his confessor's 
correction, advice, and penance ; and he excepts no 
body from the necessary requisite of a true penitent. 
Who would not be surprised (I say again) that a man 
of noted learning would submit himself to a young, 
unexperienced priest, as to judge of his conscience, 
take his advice, and receive his correction and pen- 
ance ? 

What would a Roman-Catholic say, if he should 
see one of our learned bishops go to the college to 
consult a young collegian in a nice point of divinity ; 
nay, to take his advice, and submit to his opinion ? 
Realy, the Roman would heartily laugh at him, and 
with a great deal of reason ; nay, he could say, that 
his lordship was not right in his senses. What then 
can a protestant say of those infatuated, learned men 
of the church of Rome, when they do more than what 
is here supposed ? 

As to the Pope (I say) it is a damnable opinion to 
compare him, in this case, to our Saviour Jesus ; for 
Christ knew not sin, but gave us an example of hu- 
mility and patience, obedience and poverty. He 
washed the apostles' feet ; and though we cannot 
loiow by the Scripture whether he did kneel down 
or not to wash them : Suppose that he did, he did it 
only out of a true humility, and not to confess his sins. 
But the Pope doth kneel down, not to give an ex- 
ample of humility and patience, but really to confess 
his sins : Not to give an example of obedience ; for, 



POPISH CHURCH. 19 

being supreme pontifex, he obeys nobody, and as- 
sumes a command over the whole world ; nor of pov- 
erty ; for Pope and necessity dwell far from one 
another. And if some ignorant Roman-Catholic 
should say, that the Pope, as Pope, has no sin, we 
may prove the contrary with Cipriano de Valeria,* 
who gives an account of all the bastards of several 
Popes for many years past. The Pope's bastards, in 
Latin, are called nepotes. Now mind, reader, 
this common saying in Latin, among the Roman- 
Catholics : Solent clerica Jitois suos vocare sohrinos 
aut nepotes : That is, the priests use to call their 
own sons cousins or nephews. And when we give 
these instances to some of their learned men, (as I 
did to one in London,) they say, Jlngelorum est pec- 
care, hominumque penitere : i. e. It belongs to an- 
gels to sin, and to men to repent. By this they ac- 
knowledge that the Pope is a sinner, and nevertheless 
they call him His holiness, and the most Holy father. 

Who then would not be surprised to see the most 
holy Jesus Christ's vicar on earth, and the infallable 
in whatever he says, and doth submit himself to con- 
fess his sins to a man, and a man too that has no 
other power to correct him, to advise and impose a 
penance upon the most holy one, than what his holi- 
ness has been pleased to grant him? Every body 
indeed that has a grain of sense of religion, and re- 
flects seriously on it. 

I come now to their Auricular Confession, and of 

* The lives of the Popes, and the sacrifice of Mass. 



20 HISTORYOFTHE 

the ways and methods they practise and observe in 
the confessing of their sins. There is among them 
two ranks of people, learned and imlearned. The 
learned confess by these three general heads, thought, 
word, and deed, reducing into them all sorts of sins. 
The unlearned confess the ten commandments, dis- 
covering by them all the mortal sins which they have 
committed since their last confession. I say mortal 
sins ; for as to the venial sins or sins of a small matter, 
the opinion of their casuistical authors* is, they are 
washed away by the sign of the cross, or by sprink- 
ling the face with the holy water. To the discovery of 
the mortal sins, the father confessor doth very much 
help the penitent ; for he sometimes, out of pure zeal, 
but most commonly out of curiosity, asks them many 
questions to know whether they do remember all 
their sins or not ? By these and like questions, the 
confessors do more mischief than good, especially to 
the ignorant people and young women ; for perhaps 
they do not know what simple fornication is ? What 
voluntary or involuntary pollution ? What impure 
desire ? What simple motion of our hearts ? What 
relapse, reincidence, or reiteration of sins ? and the 
like ; and then by the confessors indiscreet questions, 
the penitents learn things of which they never had 

* Parez, Irribarren^ and Salazar, in his compend. Moral. 
Sect. 12. de vitiis etpeccatis, gives a catalogue of the venial sins^ 
and says, among others, that to eat flesh on a day prohibited by 
the church, without minding it, was so. To kill a man, throw- 
ing a stone through the window, or being drunk, or in the first 
motion of his passion, are venial sins, &c. 



POPISHCHURCH- M 

dreamed before ; and when they come to that tribu- 
nal with a sincere, ignorant heart, to receive advice 
and instruction, they go home with hght, knowledge, 
and an idea of sins unknown to them before. 

I said that the confessors do ask questions, most 
commonly out of curiosity, though they are warned 
by their casuistical authors to be prudent, discreet, 
and very cautious in the questions they ask, espe- 
cially if the penitent be a young woman, or an igno- 
rant ; for as Pineda says,* It is better to let them go 
ignorant than instructed in new sins. But contrary 
to this good maxim, they are so indiscreet in this 
point, that I saw in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal, a 
girl of ten years of age, coming from church, ask her 
mother what defiouring was ? For the father confessor 
had asked her whether she was defloured or not ? 
And the mother, more discreet than the confessor, 
told the girl, that the meaning was, whether she took 
delight in smelling flowers or not? And so she 
stopped her child's curiosity. But of this and many 
other indiscretions, I shall speak more particularly by 
and by. 

Now observe, that as a penitent cannot hide any 
thing from the spiritual judge, else he would make a 
sacrilegious confession ; so I cannot hide any thing 
from the public, which is to be my hearer, and the 
temporal judge of my work, else I should betray my 
conscience : Therefore, (to the best of my memory, 
and as one that expects to be called before the drccid- 

* Tract, de Penit. Sect. 1 . sect. vii. 



22 HISTORYOFTHE 

ful tribunal of God, on account of what I now write 
and say, if I do not say and write the truth from the 
bottom of my heart,) I shall give a faithful, plain ac- 
count of the Roman's auricular confession, and of the 
most usual questions and answers between the con- 
fessors and penitents ; and this I shall do in so plain 
a style that every body may go along with me. 

And first, it is very proper to give an account of 
what the penitents do, from the time they come into 
the church till they begin their confession. When 
the penitent comes into the church, he takes holy 
water and sprinkles his face, and, making the sign of 
the cross, says, per signum crucis de inimicis nos- 
tris libera nos Deus noster : In nomine Patris et 
Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. i. e. By the sign of 
the cross deliver us our God from our enemies, in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. Jlmen. Then the penitent goes on, 
and kneels down before the great altar, where the 
great host (of which I shall speak in another place) is 
kept in a neat and rich tabernacle, with a brass or 
silver lamp, hanging before it, burning continually, 
night and day. There he makes a prayer, first to 
the holy sacrament of the altar, (as they call it) after 
to the Virgin Mary, and to the titular saints of the 
church. Then turns about upon his knees, and visits 
five altars, or if there is but one altar in the church 
five times that altar, and says before each of them 
five times. Pater noster, &c. and five times Ave Ma- 
ria, &c. with Gloria Patria, &c. 

Then he rises, and goes to the confessionary : i. e. 



POPISH C HURCH. 23 

The confessing place, where the confessor sits in a 
chair Uke our hackney chairs, which is most com- 
monly placed in some of the chapels, and in the 
darkest place in the church. The chairs, generally 
speaking, have an iron grate at each side, but none 
at all before : and some days of devotion, or on a 
great festival, there is such a crowd of people that 
you may see three penitents at once about the chair, 
one at each grate, and the other at the door, though 
only one confesses at a time, whispering in the con- 
fessor's ear, that the others should not hear what he 
says ; and when one has done, the other begins, and 
so on : But most commonly they confess at the door 
of the chair, one after another ; for thus the con- 
fessor has an opportunity of knowing the penitent : 
And though many gentlewomen, either out of bash- 
fulness, shame, or modesty, do endeavor to hide 
their faces with a fan, or veil, notwithstanding all 
this they are known by the confessor, who if curious, 
by crafty questions brings them to tell him their 
names and houses, and this in the very act of con- 
fession, or else he examines their faces when the 
confession is over whilst the penitents are kissing 
his hand or sleeve ; and if he cannot know them 
this way, he goes himself to give the sacrament, and 
then every one being obliged to show her face, 
is known by the curious confessor, who doth this not 
without a private view and design, as will appear at 
the end of some private confessions. 

The penitent then kneeling, bows herself to the 
ground before the confessor, and makes again the 



24 HISTORY 01* tHil 

sign ofth6 cross in the aforesaid form ; and having 
in her hai^id the beads, Or rosary of the Virgin Mary, 
begins the general confession of sins, which some say 
in Latin, and some in the vulgar tongue ; therefore it 
seems proper to give a copy of it both in Latin and 
English :-— 

Coniiteor Deo Omnipotenti ; beatae Mariae semper 
Virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Joanni 
Baptistae, Sanctis apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus 
Sanctis, et tibi, Pater ; quia peccavi nimis cogitatoine, 
verbo, et opere, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima 
culpa : Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, 
beatum Michaelem Archangelum, beatum Joannem 
Baptistam, sanctos apostolos Petrum et Paulum, 
omnes sanctos, et te. Pater, orare pro me ad Dominum 
Deum nostrum. Jlmen. 

I do confess to God Almighty, to the blessed Mary, 
always a Virgin, to the blessed Archangel Michael, 
to the blessed John Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter 
and Paul, to all the saints, and to thee, Father, 
that I have too much sinned by thought, word, and 
deed, by my fault, by my fault, by my greatest fault. 
Therefore I beseech the blessed Mary, always a 
Virgin, the blessed Archangel Michael, the blessed 
John Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, all 
the saints, and thee, Father, to pray to God our 
Lord for me. Jimen. 

This done, the penitent raises him from his pros- 
tration to his knees, and touching with his lip either 
the ear or cheek of the Spiritual Father, begins to 
discover his sins by the ten commandments: And 



POPISHCHURCH. 25 

here it may be necessary to give a translation of their 
ten commandments, word for word. 

The commandments of the law of God are ten : 
The three first do pertain to the honor of God ; and 
the other seven to the benefit of our neighbor. 
I. Thou shalt love God above all things. 
II. Thou shalt not swear. 

III. Thou shalt sanctify the holy days. 

IV. Thou shalt honor thy father and mother. 
V. Thou shalt not kill. 

VI. Thou shalt not commit fornication. 
VII. Thou shalt not steal. 
VIII. Thou shalt not bear false witness nor lie. 
IX. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. 
X. Thou shalt not covet the things which are 
another's 

These ten commandments are comprised in two, 
viz : To serve and love God, and thy neighbor as 
thyself. Amen. 

Now, not to forget any thing that may instruct the 
public, it is to the purpose to give an account of the 
little children's confessions ; I mean of those that 
have not yet attained the sventh year of their age; 
for at seven they begin most commonly to receive the 
sacrament, and confess in private with all the for- 
malities of their church. 

There is in every city, in every parish, in every 
town and village, a Lent preacher ; and there is but 
one difference among them, viz. : that some preachers 
preach every day in Lent ; some three sermons in a 
week ; some two, viz. : on Wednesdays and Sundays, 

4 



26 HISTORY OP THE 

and some only on Sundays, and the holy days 
that happen to fall in Lent. The preacher of the 
parish pitches upon one day of the week, most com- 
monly in the middle of Lent, to hear the children's 
confessions, and gives notice to the congregation the 
Sunday before, that every father of a family may 
send his children, both boys and girls, to church, on 
the day appointed, in the afternoon. The mothers 
dress their children the best they can that day, and 
give them the offering money for the expiation of 
their sins. That afternoon is a holy day in the 
parish, not by precept, but by custom, for no parish- 
ioner, either old or young, man or woman, misseth 
to go and hear the children's confessions. For it is 
reckoned, among them, a greater diversion than a 
comedy, as you may judge by the following account. 

The day appointed, the children repair to church 
at three of the clock, where the preacher is waiting 
for them with a long reed in his hand, and when all 
are together, (sometimes 150 in number, and some- 
times less,) the reverend Father placeth them in a 
circle round himself, and then kneeling down, (the 
children also doing the same,) makes the sign of the 
cross, and says a short prayer. This done, he ex- 
horteth the children to hide no sin from him, but to 
tell him all they have committed. Then he strikes 
with his reed, the child whom he designs to confess 
the first, and asks him the following questions : 

Confessor. How long is it since you last confessed ? 

JBoT/. Father, a whole year, or the last Lent. 



POPISHCHURCH. ^7 

Vonf. And how many sins have you committed 
from that time till now ? 

Boy, Two dozen. 

Now the confessor asks round about. 

Conf, And you ? 

Boy, A thousand and ten. 

Another will say a bag full of small lies, and ten 
big sins ; and so one after another answers, and tells 
many childish things. 

Conf, But pray, you say that you have cjommitted 
ten big sins, tell me how big ? 

Boy, As big as a tree. 

Conf. But tell me the sins. 

Boy. There is one sin I committed, which I dare 
not tell your reverence before all the people ; for 
somebody here present will kill me, if he heareth me. 

Conf. Well come out of the circle, and tell it me. 

They both go out, and with a loud voice, he tells 
him, that such a day he stole a nest of sparrows from 
a tree of another boy's, and that if he knew it, he 
would kill him. Then both come again intb the 
circle, and the father aski^ other boys and girls so 
many ridiculous questions, and the children answer 
him so many pleasant, innocent things, that the con- 
gregation laughs all the while. One will say, that 
his sins are red, another that one of his sins is white, 
one black, and one green, and in these trifling ques- 
tions they spend two hours' time. When the con- 
gregation is weary of laughing, the Confessor gives 
the children a correction, and bids them not to sin 
any more, for a black boy takes along with him the 



28 H ISTORT OF THE 

wicked children : Then he asks the offering, and after 
he has got all from them, gives them the penance for 
their sins. To one he says, I give you for penance, 
to eat a sweet cake ; to another, not to go to school 
the day following ; to another, to desire his mother 
to buy him a new hat, and such things as these ; and 
pronouncing the words of absolution, he dismisseth 
the congregation with Jimen so be it, every year. 

These are the first foundation of the Romish reli- 
gion for youth. Now, reader I You may make re- 
flections upon it, and the more you will reflect, so 
much more you will hate the corruptions of that 
coDomunion, and it shall evidently appear to you, 
that the serious, religious instruction of our church, 
as to the youth, is reasonable, solid, and without 
reproach. ! that all Protestants would remember 
the rules they learned from their youth, and practise 
them while they live ! Sure I am, they should be like 
angels on earth, and blessed forever after death, in 
heaven. 

From seven till fifteen, there is no extraordinary 
thing to say of young people, only that from seven 
years of age, they begin to confess in private. The 
confessors have very little trouble with such young 
people, and likewise little profit, except with a Puella, 
who sometimes begins at twelve years the course of 
a lewd life, and then the Confessor finds business and 
profits enough, when she comes to confess. Now I 
come to give an account of several private confes- 
sions of both sexes, beginning from people of fifteen 
years of age. The confession is a dialogue between 



POPIiHCHURCH. 29 

the Spiritual Father and the penitent ; therefore I 
shall deliver the confessions in a way of dialogue. 
The letter C. signifies Confessor, and several other 
letters the names of the penitents. 

The confession of a young woman in Saragossa, whom I shall 
call Mary. And this I set down chiefly to show the common 
form of their confessing penitents. The thing was not public : 
and therefore I give it under a supposed name. 

Confessor, How long is it since you last confessed? 

Mary, It is two years and two months. 

Conf. Pray, do you know the commandments of 
our holy mother, the church? 

Mary, Yea, Father. 

Conf, Rehearse them. 

Mary, The commandments of our holy mother, 
the church, are five. 1. To hear Mass on Sundays 
and Holy days, 2. To confess, at least, once in a 
year, and oftener, if there be danger of death. 3. To 
receive the eucharist 4. To fast. 5. To pay tithes 
and Primitia.* 

Conf. Now rehearse the seven sacraments. 

Mary, The sacraments of the holy mother, the 
church, are seven. 1. Baptism. 2. Confirmation. 
3. Penance. 4. The Lord's supper. 5. Extreme 
unction. 6. Holy orders. 7. Matrimony. — Jimen, 

Conf You see in the second commandment of the 
church, and in the third, among the sacraments, that 
you are obliged to confess every year. Why then 

* Primitia is to pay, besides the tenth, one thirtieth part of the 
fruits of the earth, towards the repair of the church vestments, 



so HlSTORYOPTHK 

have you neglected so much longer a time to fulfil 
the precept of our holy mother ? 

Mary. As I was young, and a great sinner, I was 
ashamed, reverend Father, to confess my sins to the 
priest of our parish, for fear he should know me by 
some passages of my life, which would be prejudicial 
to me, and to several other persons related to my 
family. 

Conf. But you know that it is the indispensable 
duty of the minister of the parish, to expose in the 
church, after Easter, all those who have not confes- 
sed, nor received the sacrament before that time. 

Mary. I do know it very well ; but I went out of 
the city towards the middle of Lent, and I did not 
come back again till after Easter ; and when I was 
asked in the country, whether I had confessed that 
Lent or not ? I said, that I had done it in the city : 
and when the minister of the parish asked me the 
same question, I told him, I had done it in the coun- 
try. So, with this lie, I freed myself from the pub- 
lic censure of the church. 

Conf. And did you perform the last penance im- 
posed upon you ? 

Mary. Yea, Father, but not with that exactness I 
was commanded. 

Conf. What was the penance ? 

Mary. To fast three days upon bread and water, 
and to give ten reals of plate,* and to say five masses 
for the souls in purgatory. I did perform the first, 

* A real of plate is about seven pence of our money in Ireland* 



POPISHGHURGH. 31 

but not the second, because I could not get money 
for it unknown to my parents at that time. 

Conf. Do you promise me to perform it as soon as 
you can ? 

Mary. I have the money here, which I will leave 
with you, and you may say, or order another priest 
to say the Masses. 

Conf. Very well : but tell me now, what reason 
have you to come and confess out of the time ap- 
pointed by the church ? Is it for devotion, to quiet 
your conscience, and merely to make your peace with 
God Almighty, or some worldly end ? 

Mary. Good Father, pity my condition, and pray 
put me in the right way of salvation, for I am ready 
to despair of God's mercy, if you do not quiet and 
ease my troubled conscience. Now I will answer to 
your question : the reason is, because a gentleman 
who, under promise of marriage, has kept me these 
two last years, is dead two months ago ; and I have 
resolved in my heart to retire myself into a monas- 
tery, and to end there my days, serving God and his 
holy mother, the Virgin Mary. 

Corif. Do not take any resolution precipitately, for, 
may be, if your passion grows cool, you will alter 
your mind ; and I suspect, with a great deal of reason, 
that your repentance is not sincere, and that you 
come to confess out of sorrow for the gentleman's 
death, more than out of sorrow for your sins ; and if 
it be so, I advise you to take more time to consider 
the state of your conscience, and to come to me a 
fortnight hence. 



32 HISTORY OPTHB 

Mary, My Father, all the world shall not alter my 
mind, and the daily remorse of my conscience brings 
me to your feet, with a full resolution to confess all 
my sins, in order to obtain absolution, and to live a 
new life hereafter. 

Conf. If it is so, let us, in the name of God, begin 
the confession, and I require of you not to forget any 
circumstance of sin, which may contribute to ease 
your conscience. Above all, I desire of you to lay 
aside shame, while you confess your sins ; for, sup- 
pose that your sins exceed the number of stars, or 
the number of the sands of the sea, God's mercy is 
infinite, and accepts of the true, penitent heart ; for 
he wills not the death of a sinner, but that he should 
repent and turn to him. 

Mary. I do design to open freely my heart to you, 
and to follow your advice, as to the spiritual course 
of my life. 

Oonf. Begin then by the first commandment. 

Mary. I do confess, in this commandment, that I 
have not loved God above all things ; for all my care, 
these two years past, has been to please Don Fran- 
cisco, in whatever thing he desired me, and, to the 
best of my memory, I did not think of God, nor of 
his mother, Mary, for many months together. 

Conf. Have you constantly frequented the asssem- 
blies of the faithful, and heard Mass on Sundays, and 
holy days ? 

Mary. No, Father ; sometimes I have been four 
months without going to church. 



POPISHCHURCH. 33 

Conf> You have done a great injury to your soul, 
and you have given a great scandal to your neighbors. 

Mary. As for the first, I own it, for every Sunday 
and holy day I went out in the morning, and in so 
populous a city, they could not know the church I 
used to resort to. 

Conf. Did it come into your mind all this while, 
that God would punish you for your sins ? 

Mary. Yea, Father : but the Virgin Mary is my 
advocate. I keep her image by my bedside, arid 
used to address my prayer to her every night before 
I went to bed, and I always had a great hope in her. 

Conf. If your devotion to the Virgin Mary is so 
fervent, you must believe that your heart is moved 
to repentance by her influence and mediation ; and 
I charge you to continue the same devotion while 
you live, and fear nothing afterwards. 

Mary. That is my design. 

Conf. Go on. 

Mary. The second commandment is. Thou shalt 
not swear. I never was guilty of swearing, but I 
have a custom of saying. Such a thing is so, as sure 
as there is a God in heaven : and this I repeat very 
often every day. 

Conf That is a sinful custom, for we cannot swear 
nor affirm any thing by heaven or earth, as the 
Scripture tells us ; and less by Him who has the 
throne of his habitation in heaven : so you must 
break off that custom, or else you commit a sin every 
time you make use of it. Go on. 

Mary. The third is, Thou shalt sanctify the holy 

5 



34 HISTORYOFTHE 

days, I have told you already, my spiritual Father, 
that I have neglected, sometimes, to go to Mass, four 
months together ; and to the best of my memory, in 
these two years and two months, I have missed sixty 
Sundays and holy days going to Mass, and Avhen I 
did go, my mind was so much taken up with other 
diversions, that I did not mind the requisite devotion, 
for which I am heartily sorry. 

Conf, I hope you will not do so for the future ; 
and so, go on. 

Mary. The fourth is, Thou shall honor father 
and molher. I have father and mother ; as to my 
father, I do love, honor and fear him ; as to my 
mother, I do confess, that I have answered and acted 
contrary to the duty, respect, and reverence due to 
her, for her suspecting and watching my actions and 
falsesteps, and giving me a christian correction : I 
have abused her, nay, sometimes, I have lifted up 
my hand to threaten her ; and these proceedings of 
mine towards my good mother, torture now my heart. 

Conf. I am glad to observe your grief, and you 
may be sure, God will forgive you these and other 
sins upon your hearty repentance, if you persevere 
in it. Go on. 

Mary. The fifth is. Thou shall not kill. I have 
not transgressed this commandment effectively and 
immediately, but I have done it affectively and me- 
diately, and at second hand ; for a gentlewoman^ 
who was a great hindrance to my designs, once pro- 
voked me to such a pitch, that I put in execution all 



POPISHCHURCH. 35 

the means of revenge I could think of, and gave ten 
pistoles to an assassin, to take away her life. 

Conf. And did he kill her ? 

Mary. No, Father, for she kept her house for 
three months, and in that time we were reconciled, 
and now we are very good friends. 

Conf. Have you asked her pardon, and told her 
your design ? 

Mary. I did not tell her in express terms, but I 
told her that I had an ill will to her, and that at that 
time I could have killed her, had I got an opportunity 
for it : for which I heartily begged her pardon : she 
did forgive me, and so we live ever since like two 
sisters. 

Conf. Go on. 

Mary. The sixth, Thou shall not commit forni- 
cation. In the first place, I do confess that I have 
unlawfully conversed with the said Don Francisco, 
for two years, and this unlawful commerce has made 
me fall into many other sins. 

Conf. Did he promise solemnly to marry you. 

Mary. He did, but could not perform it, while his 
father was alive. 

Conf. Tell me from the beginning, to the day of 
his death, and to the best of your memory, your 
sinful thoughts, words, actions, nay, your very 
dreams, about this matter. 

Mary. Father, the gentleman was our neighbor; 
of a good family and fortune, and by the means of* 
the neighborly friendship of our parents, we had the 
opportunity to talk with one another as much as we 



36 HISTORYOPTHE 

pleased. For two years together, we loved one 
another in innocence ; but at last he discovered to 
me one day, when our parents were abroad, the 
great inclination he had for me ; and that having 
grown to a passion, and this to an inexpressible love, 
he could no longer hide it from me : that his design 
was to marry me as soon as his father should die, 
and that he was willing to give me all the proofs of 
sincerity and unfeigned love I could desire from him. 
To this I answered, that if it was so, I was ready to 
promise never to marry another during his life : To 
this, he took a sign of the crucifix in his hands, and 
bowing down before an image of the Virgin Mary, 
called the four elements to be witnesses of the sin- 
cerity of his vows, nay, all the saints of the heavenly 
court to appear against him in the day of judgment, 
if he was not true in heart and words ; and said, 
that by the crucifix in his hands, and by the image 
of the Virgin Mary, there present, he promised and 
swore never to marry another during my life. — 
I answered him in the same manner ; and ever since, 
we have lived with the familiarities of husband and 
wife. The effect of this reciprocal promise was the 
Tuin of my soul, and the beginning of my sinful life ; 
for ever since, I minded nothing else, but to please 
Mm and myself, when I had an opportunity. 

Conf, How often did he visit you ? 

Mary. The first year he came to my room every 
night, after both families were gone to bed ; for in 
the vault of his house, which joins to ours, we dug 
<m& night through the earth, and made a passage wide 



POPISHCHURCH. 37 

enough for the purpose, which we covered on each 
side with a large earthen water-jar ; and by that 
means he came to me every night. But my grief is 
double, when I consider, that, engaging my own 
maid into this intrigue, I have been the occasion of 
her ruin too ; for by my ill example, she lived in the 
same way with the gentleman's servant, and I own 
that I have been the occasion of all her sins too. 

Conf, And the second year did he visit you so 
often ? 

Mary. No, father ; for the breach in the vault 
was discovered by his father, and was stopped im- 
mediately ; but nobody suspected any thing of our 
intimacy, except my mother, who from something 
she had observed, began to question me, and after- 
wards became more suspicious and watchful. 

Conf. Did any effect of these visits come to light ? 

Mary, It would, had I not been so barbarous 
and inhuman to prevent it, by a remedy I took, 
which answered my purpose. 

Conf. And how could you get the remedy, there 
being a rigorous law against it ? 

Mary, The procuring it brought me into a yet 
wickeder life ; for I was acquainted with a friar, a 
cousin of mine, who had always expressed a great 
esteem for me ; but one day after dinner, being alone, 
he began to make love to me, and was going to take 
greater liberties than he had ever done before. I 
told him that if he could keep a secret, and do me a 
service, I would comply with his desire. He 
promised me to do it upon the word of a priest. 



38 HISTORYOFTHE 

Then I told him my business, and the day after he 
brought me the necessary medicme ; and ever since 
I was freed from that uneasiness. I have hved the 
same course of hfe with my cousin ; nay, as I was 
luider such an obUgation to him, I have ever since 
been obhged to allow him many other liberties in my 
house. 

Conf. Are those other liberties he took in your 
house sinful or not ? 

Mary. The liberties I mean are, that he desired 
me to gratify his companion too, several times, and 
to consent that my maid should satisfy his lusts ; 
and not only this, but by desiring me to corrupt one 
of my friends, he has ruined her soul ; for, being in the 
same condition I had been in before, I was obliged, 
out of fear, to furnish her with the same remedy, 
which produced the same effect. Besides these wicked 
actions, I have robbed my parents to supply him 
with whatever mone3r he demanded. 

Conf. But as to Don Francisco, pray tell me, how 
often did he visit 3^ou since ? 

Mary. The second year lie could not see me in 
private but ver^r seldom, and in a sacred place ; for 
having no opportunity at home, nor abroad, I used 
to go to a little chapel out of the town ; and having 
gained the hermit with money, we continued our 
commerce, that way, for six or eight limes the second 
year. 

Conf. Your sins are aggravated, both by the 
circumstance of the sacred place, and by your cousin's 
being a Priest, besides the two murders committed 



POPISH CHURCH. 



by you, one in yourself, and the other in your friend. 
Nay, go on, if you have any more to say upon this 
subject. 

Mary. I have nothing else to say, as to the com- 
mandment, but that I am heartily sorry for all these 
my misdoings. 

Conf. Go on. 

Mary. The seventh, Thou shalt not steal. I 
have nothing to confess in this commandment but 
what I have told you already, i. e. that I have stolen 
many things from my father's house, to satisfy my 
cousin's thirst of money ; and that I have advised my 
friend to do the same ; though this was done by me, 
only for fear that he should expose us, if we had not 
given him what he desired. 

Conf. And do you design to continue the same 
life with your cousin, for fear of being discovered ? 

Mary. No, Father ; for he is sent to another 
convent, to be professor of divinity for three years ; 
and if he comes back again, he shall find me in a 
monastery ; and then I will be safe, and free from 
his wicked attempts. 

Conf. How long is it since he went away ? 

Mary. Three months, and his companion is dead ; 
so, God be thanked, I am without any apprehension 
or fear now, and I hope to see my good design 
accomplished. 

Conf. Go on. 

Mary. The eighth is, Thou shalt not bear false 
witness nor lie. The ninth. Thou shalt not covet 
thy neighbor's wife. The tenth, Thou shalt not 



40 HISTORYOPT HE 

covet any things which are another^s. I know 
nothing in these three commandments, that trouble 
my conscience : Therefore, I conclude by confessing, 
in general and particular, all the sins of my whole 
life, committed by thought, word and deed, and I 
am heartily sorry for them all, and ask God's pardon, 
and your advice, penance and absolution. Jlmen, 

Conf. Have you transgressed the fourth com- 
mandment of the church ? 

Mary. Yea, Father ; for I did not fast as it pre- 
scribes, for though I did abstain from flesh, yet I did 
not keep the form of fasting, these two years past ; 
but I have done it since the gentleman's death. 

Conf. Have you this year taken the bull of in- 
dulgences ? 

Mary. Yea, Father. 

Conf. Have you visited five altars, the days ap- 
pointed for his holiness to take a soul out of purga- 
tory ? 

Mary. I did not for several days. 

Conf. Do you promise me, as a minister of God, 
and as if you were now before the tribunal of the 
dreadful judge, to amend your life, and to avoid all 
the occasions of falling into the same or other sins, 
and to frequent for the future, this sacrament, and 
the others, and to obey the commandments of God, 
as things absolutely necessary to the salvation of 
your soul ? 

Mary. That is my design, with the help of God, 
and of the blessed Virgin Mary, in whom I put my 
whole trust and confidence. 



P P I S H C H U R C H. 41 

Vonf. Your contrition must be the foundation of 
your new life, for if you fall into other sins after this 
signal benefit you have received from God, and his 
l)lessed mother, of calling you to repentance, it will 
be a hard thing for you to obtain pardon and for- 
giveness. You see God has taken away all the ob- 
stacles of your true repentance ; pray ask continually 
his grace, that you may make good use of these 
heavenly favors. But you ought to consider, that 
though you shall be freed by my absolution from the 
eternal pains your manifold sins deserve, you shall 
not be free from the sufferings of purgatory, where 
your soul must be purified by fire, if you in this 
present life do not take care to redeem your soul 
from that terrible flame, by ordering some masses for 
ihe relief of souls in purgatory. 

Mary. I design to do it as far as it lies in my 
power. 

Conf. Now, to show your obedience to God, and 
our mother, the church, you must perform the fol- 
lowing penance : You must fast every second day, 
to mortify your lusts and passions, and this for the 
space of two months. You must visit five altars 
every second day, and one privileged altar, and say 
in each of them five times Pater noster, &c., and five 
times Jive Mary, &c. You must say two every day 
for two months' time, three-and-thirty times the creed, 
in honor and memory of the three-and-thirty years 
that our Saviour did live upon earth ; and you must 
confess once a week ; and by the continuance of 
these spiritual exercises, your soul may be preserved 



42 HISTORYOFTHE 

from several temptations, and may be happy for- 
ever. 

Mary. I will do all that with the help of God. 

Conf. Say the act of contrition by which I ab- 
solve you. 

Mary. God, my God, I have sinned against 
thee ; I am heartily sorry, &c. 

Conf. Our Lord Jesus Christ absolve thee ; and 
by the authority given me, I absolve, thee &c. 

A private confession of a woman to a Friar of the Dominican 
order, laid down in writing before the Moral Academy, 
1710, and the opinions of the members about it. The person 
was not known, therefore I shall call her Leonore. 

Leonore did confess to F. Joseph Riva the follow- 
ing misdoings : 

Leonore. My reverend Father, I come to this 
place to make a general confession of all the sins I 
have committed in the whole course of my life, or of 
all those I can remember. 

Conf. How long have you been preparing your- 
self for this general confession ? 

Leon. Eight days. 

Conf. Eight days are not enough to recollect 
yourself, and bring into your memory all the sins of 
your life. 

Leon. Father, have patience till you hear me, and 
then you may judge whether my confession be 
perfect or imperfect. 

Conf. And how long is it since you confessed the 
last time ? 

Leon. The last time I confessed was the Sunday 



POPISH CHURCH. 43 

before Easter, which is eleven months and twenty 
days. 

Conf. Did you accomplish the penance then im- 
posed upon you ? 

Leon. Yea, Father. 

Conf, Begin then your confession. 

Leon, I have neglected my duty towards God, 
by whose holy name I have many times sworn. I 
have not sanctified his holy days as I was obliged by 
law, nor honored my parents and superiors. I have 
many and many times desired the death of my 
neighbors, when I was in a passion. I have been 
deeply engaged in amorous intrigues with many 
people of all ranks, but these two years past most 
constantly with Don Pedro Hasta, who is the only 
support of my life, 

ConJ, Now I find out the reason why you have 
so long neglected to come and confess ; and I do ex- 
pect, that you will tell me all the circumstances of 
your life, that I may judge the present state of your 
conscience. 

Leon, Father, as for the sins of my youth, till I 
was sixteen years of age, they are of no great conse- 
quence, and I hope God will pardon me. Now my 
general confession begins from that time, when I fell 
into the first sin, which was- in the following manner. 

The confessor of our family was a Franciscan friar, 
who was absolute master in our house ; for my father 
and mother were entirely governed by him. It was 
about that time of my life I lost my mother ; and a 
month after her my father died, leaving all his sub- 



44 HISTORYOFTHE 

stance to the father confessor, to dispose of at his owu 
fancy, reserving only a certain part which I was ta 
have,. to settle me in the world, conditionally that I 
was obedient to him. A month after my father's 
death, on pretence of taking care of every thing that 
was in the house, he ordered a bed for himself in the 
chamber next to mine, where my maid also used to 
lie. After supper, the first night he came home, he 
addressed himself thus to me : My daughter, you 
may with reason call me your father, for you are the 
only child yom' father left under my care. Your 
patrimony is in my hands, and you ought to obey 
me blindly in every thing : So in the first place order 
your maid's bed to be removed out of your own 
chamber into another. Which being done according- 
ly, we parted, and went each one to our own room ; 
but scarcely had an hour past away, when the father 
came into my chamber, and what by flattery and pro- 
mises, and what by threatenings, he deprived me of 
my best patrimony, my innocence. We continued 
this course of life till, as I believe, he was tired of 
me : for two months after, he took every thing out of 
the house, and went to his convent, where he died 
in ten days time ; and by his death I lost the p atri- 
mony left me by my father, and with it all my 
support ; and as my parents had spared nothing in 
my education, and as I had always been kept in the 
greatest afliuence, you may judge how I was affected 
by the miserable circumstances I was then left in, 
with servants to maintain, and nothing in the world 
to supply even the necessary expenses of my house. 



P O P I S H C H U R G H. 45 

This made me the more ready to accept the first offer 
that should be made me, and my condition being, 
known to an officer of the army, he came to offer me 
his humble services. I complied with his desire, and 
so for two years we lived together, till at last he was 
obliged to repair to his regiment at Catalonia ; and 
though he left me appointments more than sufficient 
for my subsistance during his absence, yet all our 
correspondence was soon broken off by his death, 
which happened soon after. Then, resolving to alter 
my life and conversation, I went to confess, and after 
having given an account to my confessor of my life^ 
he asked my name, did promise to come the next day 
to see me, and to put me in a comfortable and credit- 
able way of living. I was very glad to get such a 
patron, and so the next day I waited at home for him. 

The father came, and after various discourses, he 
took me by the hand into my chamber, and told me 
that if I was willing to put in his hands my jewels,, 
and what other things of value I had got from the 
officer, he would engage to get a gentleman suitable 
to my condition to marry me. I did every thing as 
he desired me ; and so taking along with him all I 
had in the world, he carried them to his cell. 

The next day he came to see me, and made me 
another proposal, very different from what I expec- 
ted ; for he told nie that I must comply with his 
desire, or else he would expose me, and inform 
against me before the holy tribunal of the inquisition ; 
So, rather than incur that danger, I did for the space 
of six months, in which, having nothing to live upon. 



46 HISTORYOFTHE 

(for he kept my jewels,) I was obliged to abandon 
myself to many other gentlemen, by whom I was 
maintained. 

At last, he left me, and I still continued my wicked 
life, unlawfully conversing with married and un- 
married gentlemen a whole year, and not daring to 
confess, for fear of experiencing the same treatment 
from another confessor. 

CoTfhf, But how could you fulfil the precept of 
the church, and not be exposed in the church after 
Easter, all that while ? 

Leon. I went to an old easy father, and promised 
him a pistole for a certificate of confession, which he 
gave me without further inquiring into the matter ; 
and so I did satisfy the curate of the parish with it. 
But last year I went to confess, and the confessor 
was very strict, and would not give me absolution, 
because I was an habitual sinner ; but I gave him 
five pistoles for ten masses, and then he told me 
that a confessor's duty was to take care of the souls 
in purgatory, and that upon their account he could 
not refuse me absolution ; so by that way I escaped 
the censure of the church. 

Conf. How long is it since you broke off your 
sinful life ? 

Leon. But six weeks. 

ConJ'. I cannot absolve you now, but come again 
next Thursday, and I will consult upon all the cir- 
cumstances of your life and then I will absolve you. 

Leon. Father, I have more to say : For I stole 
from the church a chalice, by the advice of the said 



POPISHCHURCH. 47 

confessor, and he made use himself of the money I 
got for the silver, which I cut in pieces ; and I did 
converse unlawfully several times in the church with 
him. To this I must add an infinite number of sins 
by thought, word and deed, I have committed in 
this time, especially with the last person of my ac- 
quaintance, though at present I am free from him. 

Conf. Pray give me leave to consult upon all 
these things, and I will resolve them to you the next 
confession ; now go in peace. 

The first point to be resolved was whether Leonore 
could sue the Franciscan convent for the patrimony 
left by her father in the confessor's hands ? 

The president went through all the reasons, ^ro 
and con, and after resolved, that although the said 
Loenore was never disobedient to her confessor, she 
could not sue the community without lessening her 
own reputation, and laying upon the order so black 
a crime as that of her confesssor ; and that it was 
the common maxim of all casuists that. In rebus 
dubiis, minimum est sequendum, in things doubt- 
ful, that of the least evil consequence is to be pursued ; 
and seeing the losing of her patrimony would be less 
damage than the exposing of the whole Franciscan 
order, and her own reputation : It did seem proper 
to leave the thing as it was. 

The second point to be resolved was whether 
Leonore was in proxima occasoine peccati, in the 
next occasion of sin, with such a confessor the two 
first months ? 

Six members of the academy did think that she 



48 HISTORY OPTHE 

was ; for immediate occasion of sin signifies, that the 
person may satisfy his passions toties quoties, with- 
out any impediment which Leonore could do all that 
while. But the other members of the academy did 
object against it : That the nature of occasio proxima, 
besides the said reason, implies freedom and liberty, 
which Leonore did want at that time, being as she 
was, young, inexperienced, timorous, and under the 
confessor's care and power ; so it was resolved, that 
she was not the first two months in proxima occa- 
sione peccati. 

The third point : Whether she committed greater 

sin with the second confessor, who threatened her 
with the inquisition ? And whether she was obliged 
to undergo all the hardships, nay, death itself, rather 
than comply with the confessor's desire ? 

It was resolved nernine contradicnte, that she 
was obliged for self preservation's sake, to comply 
with the friar's desire, and therefore her sin was 
less than other sins. 

The fourth : Whether she was obliged to make 
restitution of the chalice she stole out of the church 
by the advice of the confessor ? 

The members could not agree in the decision of 
this point, for some were of opinion that both she 
and the friar were obliged to make restitution, 
grounded in the moral maxim : Facientes, et con- 
sentientes eadein paena puniuntur, those that act 
and those who consent are to be punished alike. 
Others said, that Leonore was only an instrument of 
theft, and that the friar did put her in the way of 



POPISHCHURCH. 49 

doing what she never had done, but for fear of him, 
and that she was forced to do it ; therefore, that she 
had not committed sacrilege, nay, nor venial sin by- 
it ; and that the friar only was guilty of sacrilege 
and robery, and obliged to make restitution. Upon 
this division, the Rev. Mr. Ant. Polomo, then pro- 
fessor of philosophy, was appointed to lay the case 
before the members of the great academy, with this 
limitation, that he should not mention any thing of 
the friar in it, except the members of the academy 
should ask him the aggravating circumstances in the 
case. 

He did it accordingly, and being asked by the 
president about the circumstances, it was resolved 
that Loenore was free from restitution, taking a bull 
of pardons. And as for the friar, by his belonging 
to the community, and having nothing of his own, 
and obliged to leave at his death, every thing to the 
convent, he must be excused from making such resti- 
tution, &c. 

The fifth point : Whether the church was dese- 
crated by their unlawful commerce ? and whether 
the confessor was obliged to reveal the nature of the 
thing to the bishop or not ? 

As to the first part, all did agree, that the church 
was polluted. As to the second, four were of 
opinion, that the thing was to be revealed to the 
bishop in general terms; but sixteen did object 
against it, and said that the dominical, asperges me 
Hysopoy et mundabor, thou shalt sprinkle me with 
hysop, and I shall be clean, &c. When the priest 

7 



^0 HISTORYOFTHE 

with the holy water and hysop sprinkles the church, 
it was enough to restore and purify the church. 

After which, the president moved another question, 
viz : Whether this private confession was to be 
entered in the academy's book ; ad perpetuam rei 
Tnemoriam, in perpetual memory of the thing. And 
it was agreed to enter the cases and resolutions, 
mentioning nothing concerning the confessors, nor 
their orders. Item, it was resolved that the propo- 
nent could safely in conscience absolve Leonore the 
next confession, if she had the bull of indulgences, 
and promised to be zealous in the correction and 
penance, which he was to give her, &c. And 
accordingly he did, and Leonore was absolved. 

The private confession proposed in the Academy, by father Gasca, 
Jesuit, and member of the Academy : of a woman of thirty- 
three years of age. 

Most reverend and learned fathers, I have thought 
lit not to trouble you with the methodical way of 
private confession I heard last Sunday, but to give 
you only an account of the difficult case in it. The 
case is this : a woman of thirty-three years of age, 
came to confess, and told me, that from sixteen years 
of age, till twenty-four, she had committed all sorts 
of lewdness, only with ecclesiastical persons, having 
in every convent a friar, who, under the name of 
cousin, did use to visit her : — and notwithstanding 
the multiplicity of cousins, she lived so poorly, that 
she was forced to turn procuress at the same time, 
for new cousins, and that she had followed that 



POPISH CHURCH. 5\ 

wicked life till thirty-two years of age. The last 
year she dreamed that the devil was very free with 
her, and those dreams or visions continuing for a 
long while, she found herself with child ; and she 
protests that she knew no man for fourteen months 
before. — She is delivered of a boy, and she says that 
he is the devil's son, and that her conscience is so 
troubled about it, that if I do not find some way ta 
quiet her mind she will lay violent hands upon 
herself. I asked her leave to consult the case, with 
a promise to resolve it next Sunday. Now I ask 
your wise advice upon this case. 

The president said, that the case was impossible,, 
and that the woman was mad ; that he was of the 
opinion to send the woman to the physicians to be 
cured of some bodily distemper she was troubled 
with. The Jesuit proponent replied, that the woman 
was in her perfect senses, and that the case well 
required further consideration: upon which, F» 
Antonio Palomo, who was reputed and the most 
learned of the academy, said, that saint Augustin 
treats de Incubo et Sucubo, and he would examine 
the case, and see whether he might not give some 
light for the resolution of the case ? 

And another member said, that there was in the 
case something more than apparition and devilish 
liberty, and that he thought fit that the father Jesuit 
should inquire more carefully into the matter, and 
go himself to examine the house, and question the 
people of it ; which being approved by the whole 
assembly, he did it the next morning, and in the 



52 HISTORTOFTHE 

afternoon, being an extraordinary meeting, he came 
and said. 

Most reverend and learned fathers, the woman 
was so strongly possessed with such a vision, that 
she has made pubhc the case among the neighbors, 
and it is spread abroad. Upon which the inquisitors 
did send for the woman and the maid, and this has 
discovered the whole story, viz : That father Con- 
chillos, Victorian friar, was in love with the woman, 
but she could not endure the sight of him. That he 
gained the maid, and by that means he got into the 
house every night, and the maid putting some opium 
into her mistress's supper, she fell fast asleep, and the 
said father did lie with her six nights together. So 
the child is not the son of the devil, but of father 
Conchillos. Afterwards it was resolved to enter the 
case for a memorondum, in the academy's book. 

The friar was put into the inquisition for having 
persuaded the maid to tell her mistress that it was 
the devil ; for she had been imder the same fear, and 
really she was in the same condition. What became 
of the friar I do not know, this I do aver for a truth, 
that I spoke with the woman myself, and with the 
maid ; and that the children used to go to her door, 
and call for the son of the devil. And being so 
mocked, she left the city in a few days after, and we 
were told that she lived after a retired christian life 
in the country. 



POPISH CHURCH. 53 

The private confession of a priest, being at the point of death, in 
1710. 1 shall call him Don Paulo. 

Don Paulo. Since God Almighty is pleased to 
visit me with this sickness, I ought to make good use 
of the time I have to live, and I desire of you to help 
me with your prayers, and to take the trouble to 
write some substantial points of my confession, that 
you may perform, after my death, whatever I think 
may enable me in some measure, to discharge my 
duty towords God and men. When I was ordained 
priest, I made a general confession of all my sins from 
my youth to that time ; and I wish I could now be 
as true a penitent as I was at that time ; but I hope, 
though I fear too late, that God will hear the prayer 
of my heart. 

I have served my parish sixteen years, and all 
my care has been to discover the tempers and incli- 
nations of my parishioners, and I have been as happy 
in this world as unhappy before my Saviour. I have 
in ready money fifteen thousand pistoles, and I have 
given away more than six thousand. I had no 
patrimony, and my living is worth but four hundred 
pistoles a year. By this you may easily know, that 
my money is unlawfully gotten, as I shall tell you, if 
God spare my life till I make ^n end of my confes- 
sion. There are in my parish sixteen hundred 
families, and more or less, I have defrauded them all 
some way or other. 

My thoughts have been impure ever since I began 
to hear confessions ; my words grave and severe 



54 HISTORYOPTHE 

with them all, and all my parishioners have respected 
and feared me. I have had so great an empire over 
them, that some of them knowing of my misdoings,, 
have taken my defence in public. They have had 
in me a solicitor, in all emergencies, and I have 
omitted nothing to please them in outward appear- 
ance ; but my actions have been the most criminal 
of mankind ; for as to my ecclesiastical duty, what I 
have done has been for custom's sake. The necessary 
intention of a priest, in the administration of baptism 
and consecration, without which the sacraments are 
of no effect, I confess I had it not several times as you 
shall see, in the parish books ; and observe there, 
that all these names marked with a star, the baptism 
was not valid, for I had no intention : And for this 
I can give no other reason than my malice and 
wickedness. Many of them are dead, for which I 
am heartily sorry. As for the times I have conse- 
crated without intention, we must leave it to God 
Almighty's mercy, for the wrong done by it to the 
souls of my parishioners, and those in purgatory 
cannot be helped. 

As to the confessions and wills I have received 
from my parishioners at the point of their death, I 
do confess, I have made myself master of as much 
as I could, and by that means I have gathered 
together all my riches. I have sent this morning for 
fifty bulls, and I have given one hundred pistoles for 
the benefit of the holy crusade^ by which his holiness 
secures my soul from eternal death. 

As to my duty towards God, I am guilty to the 



P O P I S H C H U R C H. 55 

highest degree, for I have not loved him ; I have 
neglected to say the private divine service at home 
every day ; I have polluted his holy days hy my 
grevious sins ; I have not minded my superiors in 
the respect due to them ; and I have been the cause 
of many innocent deaths. I have procured, by 
remedies, sixty abortions, making the fathers of the 
children their murderers ; besides many other in- 
tended, though not executed, by some unexpected 
accident. 

As to the sixth commandment, I cannot confess by 
particulars, but by general heads, my sins. I confess, 
in the first place, that I have frequented the parish 
club twelve years. — ^We were only six parish priests 
in it ; and there we did consult and contrive all ways 
to satisfy our passions. Every body had a list of the 
handsomest women in the parish ; and when one 
had a fancy to see any woman, remarkable for 
her beauty, in another's parish, the priest of her 
parish sent for her to his own house ; and having pre- 
pared the way for wickedness, the other had nothing 
to do but to meet her there, and fulfil his desires ; 
and so we have served one another these twelve 
years past. Our method has been, to persuade the 
husbands and fathers not to hinder them any spiritual 
comfort ; and to the ladies to persuade them to be 
subject to our advice and will ; and that in so doing, 
they should have liberty at any time to go out on 
pretence of communicating some spiritual business to 
the priest. And if they refused to do it, then we 
should speak to their husbands and fathers not to let 



56 



HISTORY OF THE 



them go out at all ; or, which woiild be worse for 
them, we should inform against them to the holy 
tribunal of the inquisition : And by these diabolical 
persuasions they were at our command, without fear 
of revealing the secret. 

I have spared no woman of my parish, whom I 
had a fancy for, and many other of my brethren's 
parishes ; but I cannot tell the number. I have sixty 
nepotes alive, of several women : But my principal 
care ought to be of those that I have by the two 
young women I keep at home since their parents 
died. Both are sisters, and I had by the eldest two 
boys, and by the youngest, one ; and one which I had 
by my own sister is dead. Therefore I leave to my 
sister five thousand pistoles, upon condition that she 
would enter nun in St. Bernard's monastery ; and 
upon the same condition I leave two thousand pistoles 
a-piece to the two young women ; and the remainder 
I leave to my three nepotes under the care of Mossen 
John Peralta, and ordering that they should be heirs 
to one another, if any of them should die before they 
are settled in the world, and if all should die, I leave 
the money to the treasury of the church, for the 
benefit of the souls in purgatory. Item : I order 
that all the papers of such a little trunk be burnt after 
my confession is over, (which was done accordingly,) 
and that the holy bull of the dead be bought before 
I die, that I may have the comfort of having at home 
the Pope's pass for the next world. Now I ask your 
penance and absolution for all the sins reserved in all 
the bulls, from the first Pope ; for which purpose I 



POPISHCHURCH. 57 

have taken the bull of privileges in such cases as 
mine. 

So I did absolve him and assist him afterwards, 
and he died the next day. What to do in such a 
case, was all my uneasiness after his death ; for if I 
did propose the case before the members of the 
academy, every body could easily know the person, 
which was against one of the articles we did swear 
at our admittance into it. And if I did not propose 
it, I should act against another article. All my diffi- 
culty was about the baptisms which he had admin- 
istered without intention : For it is the known 
opinion of their church, that the intention of a priest 
is absolutely necessary to the validity of the sacra- 
ment, and that without it there is no sacrament at all. 
I had examined the books of the parish, and I found 
a hundred and fifty-two names marked with a star, 
and examining the register of the dead, I found 
eighty-six of them dead : According to the principles 
of the church, all those that were alive were to be bap- 
tized ; which could not be done without great scandal, 
and prejudice to the clergy. In this uneasiness of mind 
I continued, till I went to visit the reverend father 
John Garcia, who had been my master in divinity, 
and I did consult him, on the case, suh secreto 
naturali. He did advise me to propose the case to 
the assembly, upon supposition, that if such a 
case should happen, what should be done in it ; and 
he recommended to me to talk with a great deal of 
caution, and to insist that it ought to be communicated 
to the bishop ; and if the members did agree with 

8 



58 HISTORYOPTHE 

me, then without further confession, I was to go to 
the bishop, and tell his lordship the case, under 
secrecy of confession : I did so, and the bishop said 
he would send for the books, and take the list of all 
those names ; and as many of them as could be found 
he would send for, one by one, into his own chamber, 
and baptize them ; commanding them, under the 
pain of ecclesiastical censure, not to talk of it, neither 
in public or private. But as for the other sins, 
there was no necessity for revealing them, for by 
virtue of the bull of Crusade, (of which I shall speak 
in the second chapter,) we could absolve them all. 

Hear, heaven ! Give ear, earth ! And be 
horribly astonished ! To see the best religion in the 
world turned into superstition and folly ; to see, too, 
that those who are to guide the people, and put their 
flock in the way of salvation, are wolves in sheep's 
clothing, that devour them, and put them into the 
Way of damnation. God, open the eyes of the 
ignorant people, that they may see the injuries done 
to their souls by their own guides ! 

I do not write this out of any private end, to blame 
all sorts of confessors ; for there are some who, 
according to the principles of their religion, do 
discharge their duty with exactness and purity, and 
whose lives, in their own way, are unblamable, and 
without reproach among men. Such confessors as 
these I am speaking of, are sober in their actions : 
they mortify their bodies with fasting over and above 
the rules prescribed by the church, by discipline, by 
kneeling down in their closets six or eight hours every 



POPISHCHURCH. 59 

day, to meditate on the holy mysteries, the goodness 
of God, and to pray to him for all sorts of sinners, 
that they may be brought to repentance and salvation, 
&c. They sleep but few hours. They spend most 
of their spare time in reading the ancient fathers of 
the church, and other books of devotion. 

They live poorly, because whatever they have, 
the poor are enjoyers of it. The time they give to 
the public is but very little, and not every day ; and 
then whatever councils they give are right, sincere, 
without flattery or interest. All pious, religious 
persons do solicit their acquaintance and conversa-^ 
tion ; but they avoid all pomp and vanity, and keep 
themselves, as much as they can, within the limits of 
solitude ; and if they make some visits, it must be 
upon urgent necessity. Sometimes you may find 
them in the hospitals among the poor, sick, helping 
and exorting them : but they go there most commonly 
in the night, for what they do, they do it not out of 
pride, but humility. 

I knew some of those exemplary men, but a very 
few ; and I heard some of them preach with a fervent 
zeal about the promoting of Christ*s religion, and 
exorting the people to put their lives voluntarily in 
the defence of the Roman Catholic faith, and extir- 
pate and destroy all the enemies of their communion. 
I do not pretend to judge them, for judgment belong- 
eth to God : This I say with St. Paul, that if those 
religious men havt a zeal of God, their zeal is not 
according to knowledge. ' 



60 HISTORTOFTHE 

The private confession of a Nun, in the convent of S. — O.— 
Before I begin the confession, it will not be improper to give 
an account of the customs of the nuns, and places of their 
confessions. 

By the constitutions of their order, so many days 
are appointed, in which all the nuns are obliged to 
confess, from the Mother Abbess to the very wheeler ; 
i. e. the nun that turns the wheel near the door, 
through which they give and receive every thing 
they want. They have a father confessor and a 
father companion, who live next to the convent, and 
have a small grate in the wall of their chamber, which 
answers to the upper cloister or gallery of the convent. 
The confessor hath care of the souls of the convent, 
and he is obliged to say mass every day, hear confes- 
sions, administer the sacraments, and visit the sick 
nuns. There are several narrow closets in the church, 
with a small iron grate : One side ansv/ers to the clois- 
ter, and the other to the church. So the nun being on 
the inside, and the confessor on the outside they hear 
one another. There is a large grate facing the great 
altar, and the holes of it are a quarter of a yard 
square ; but that grate is double, that is, one within 
and another without, and the distance between both 
is more than half a yard. And besides these, there 
is another grate for relations, and benefactors of the 
community, which grate is single, and consists of very 
thin iron bars : the holes of such a grate are near a 
quarter and a half square. In all those grates the 
mmg confess their sins : for, on a solemn day, they 



POPISHCHURCH. 61 

send for ten or twelve confessors ; otherwise they 
could not confess the fourth part of them, for there 
are m some monasteries 110 nuns, in others 80, in 
others 40, but this last is a small number. 

The nuns' father-confessor hath but little trouble 
with the young nuns, for they generally send for a 
confessor who is a stranger to them, so that his 
trouble is with the old ones, who have no business 
at the grate. These trouble their confessor almost 
every day with many ridiculous trifles, and will keep 
the poor man two hours at the grate, telling him how 
many times they have spit in the church, how many 
flies they have killed, how many times they have 
flown into a passion with their lap dogs, and other 
nonsensical, ridiculous things like these ; and the 
reason is because they have nothing to do, nobody 
goes to visit them nor cares for them ; so sometimes 
they choose to be spies for the young nuns, when 
they are at the grate with their gallants ; and for fear 
of their Mother Abbess, they place some of the old 
nuns before the door of the parlor, to watch the 
Mother Abbess, and to give them timely notice of 
her coming ; and the poor old nuns perform this 
office with a great deal of pleasure, faithfulness, and 
some profit too. But I shall not say any more of 
them, confining myself wholly to the way of living 
among the young nuns. 

Many gentlemen send their daughters to the nun- 
nery when they are some five, some six, some eight 
years old, under the care of some nun of their rela- 
tions, or else some old nun of their acquaintance ; 



62 HISTORYOPTHE 

and there they get education till they are fifteen 
years old. The tutress takes a great deal of care 
not to let them go to the grate, nor converse with 
men all the while, to prevent in them the knowledge 
and love of the world. They are caressed by all the 
nmis, and thinking it will be always so, they are 
very well pleased with their confinement. They 
have only liberty to go to the grate to their parents 
or relations, and always accompanied with the old 
mother tutress. And when they are fifteen years 
old, which is the age fixed by the constitutions of 
all the orders, they receive the habit of a nun, and 
begin the year of noviciate, which is the year of 
trial to see whether they can go through all the 
hardships, fastings, disciplines, prayers, hours of 
divine service, obedience, poverty, chastity, and 
penances practised in the monastery : But the 
prioress or abbess, and the rest of the professed 
nuns, do dispense with, and excuse the novices from 
all the severities, for fear that the novices should be 
dissatisfied with, and leave the convent : And in this 
they are very much in the wrong ; for, besides that 
they do not observe the precepts of their monastical 
rule, they deceive the poor, ignorant, inexperienced 
young novices, who, after their profession and vows 
of perpetuity, do heartily repent they had been so 
much indulged. Thus the novices, flattered in the 
y^ar of noviciate, and thinking they will be so all 
their life time, when the year is expired, make pro- 
fession, and swear to observe chastity, obedience 
and poverty, during their lives, and clausara, i. c. 



POPISH CHURCH. 63 

confinement; obliging themselves, by it, never to go 
out of the monastery. 

After the profession is made, they begin to feel 
the severity and hardships of the monastical life ; for 
one is made a door keeper ; another turner of the 
wheel, to receive and deliver by it all the nuns' mes- 
sages; another bell nun, that is to call the nuns, 
when any one comes to visit them ; another baker ; 
another book-keeper of all the rents and expenses, 
and the like ; and in the performance of all these 
employments, they must expend a great deal of their 
own money. After this they have liberty to go to 
the grate, and talk with gentlemen, priests and friars, 
who only go there as a gallant goes to see his 
mistress. So when the young nuns begin to have a 
notion of the pleasures of the world, and how they 
have been deceived, they are heartily sorry, but too 
late, for there is no remedy. And minding nothing 
but to satisfy their passions as well as they can, they 
abandon themselves to all sorts of wickedness and 
amorous intrigues. 

There is another sort of nuns, whom the people 
call las forcadas, the forced nuns ; i. e. those who 
have made a false step in the world, and cannot 
find husbands, on account of their crimes being public. 
Those are despised and ill used by their parents and 
relations, till they choose to go to the nunnery : So 
by this it is easily known what sort of nuns they will 
make. 

Now as to the spending of their time. They get 
up at six in the morning and go to prayers, and to 



64 HISTORYOPTHE 

hear mass till seven. From seven till ten, they work 
or go to breakfast, either in their chambers, or in the 
common hall. At ten they go to the great mass till 
eleven : After it, they go to dinner. After dinner, 
they may divert themselves till two. At two they 
go to prayers, for a quarter of an hour, or (if they 
sing vespers) for half an Tiour; and afterwards they 
are free till the next morning : So every one is 
waiting for her devoto, that is, a gallant, or spiritual 
husband, as they call him. When it is dark evening, 
they send away their devotos, and the doors are 
locked up ; so they go to their own chamber to write 
a billet, or letter to the spiritual husband, which they 
send in the morning to them, and get an answer ; 
and though they see one another almost every day, 
for all that, they must write to one another every 
morning : And these letters of love, they call the 
recreation of the spirit for the time the devotos are 
absent from them. Every day they must give one 
another an account of whatever thing they have done 
since the last visit; and indeed there are warmer 
expressions of love and jealousy between the nun 
and the devoto, than between real wife and husband. 

Now I come to the private confession ; and I wish I could have 
the style of an angel, to express myself with purity and 
modesty in this confession. 

Nun. Reverend Father, as the number of my sins 
are so great, and so great the variety of circumstances 
attending them ; mistrusting my memory, I have set 
down in writing this confession, that you may en- 



POPISH CHURCH. 65 

tirely be acquainted with every thing that troubles 
my conscience ; and so I humbly beg of you to read 
it. 

Conf. I did approve the method of writing, but 
you ought to read it yourself, or else it cannot be oris 
confessio, or confession by mouth. 

Nun. If it is so, I begin. I thought fit to " cquaint 
you with the circumstances of my past life, that you 
may form a right judgment of my monastical life and 
conversation, which in some measure, will excuse 
me before the world, though not before God, our 
righteous judge. 

I am the only daughter of councellor N. E. who 
brought me up in the fear of God, and gave me a 
writing master, which is a rare thing. I was not 
quite thirteen years of age, when a gentleman of 
quality, though not very rich, began his love to me 
by letters which he (gaining my writing master) sent 
to me by him. There was nothing in the world so 
obliging, civil, modest and endearing, as his expres- 
sions seemed to me, and at last having the opportu- 
nity of meeting him at the house of one of my aunts, 
his person and conversation did so charm my heart, 
that a few days after we gave one another reciprocal 
promises of an eternal union: But by a letter 
which was unfortunately miscarried, and fell into my 
father's hand, our honest designs were discovered ; 
and without telling me any thing, he went to see the 
gentleman, and spoke to him in this manner : Sir, 
my daughter, in discharging of her duty to so good 
a father, has communicated to me your honorable 

9 



66 HISTORY OP THE 

designs, and I come to thank you for the honor yoil 
are pleased to do my family : But, being so young, 
we think proper to put off the performance of it, till 
she comes to be fifteen years of age : Now she, and 
I also, as a father to you both, (for I look upon you 
as upon my own son) do desire of you the favor not 
to give any public occasion of censure to the watchful 
neighbors, and if you have any regard for her, I hope 
you will do this and more for her and for me : And 
to show you my great affection, I offer you a captain's 
commission in the regiment that the city raiseth for 
the king, and advise you to serve two years, and 
afterwards, you may accomplish your desire. The 
gentleman accepted it, and the next day the commis- 
sion was signed and delivered to him, with an order 
to go to Catalonia. At the same time the writing 
master was sent out of town under pretence of 
receiving some money from my father ; and I was 
kept close at home, so he could not get an opportunity 
of seeing or writing to me ; for my father told him I 
was sick in bed. As soon as he left the town, my 
father told me that he was dead, and that I must 
retire myself into the nunnery, for that was his will : 
So immediately he brought me here, and gave severe 
directions to the mother abbess, not to let me see any 
body but himself. Indeed, he did spare nothing to 
please me, until I received the habit, and made the 
profession and vows of a monastical life: After 
which he told me the whole story himself; and the 
gentleman was killed in Catalonia the first campaign. 
I do confess, that ever since, I did not care what 



POPISH CHURCH. 67 

should become of me, and I have abandoned myself 
to all the sins I have been capable to commit. It is. 
but ten months since I made my profession, and 
bound myself to perpetuity ; though as I did it without 
intention, I am not a nun before God, nor obliged to 
keep the vow of religion ; and of this opinion are 
many other nuns, especially, ten young nuns, my 
intimate friends, who, as well as I, do communicate 
to one another the most secret things of our hearts. 

Each of this assembly has her devoto, and we are 
every day in the afternoon at the grate : We show 
one another the letters we receive from them, and 
there is nothing that we do not invent for the accom- 
plishment of our pleasures. 

Conf^ Pray, confess your own sins, and omit the 
sins of your friends. 

Nun, I cannot, for my sins are so confounded 
with the sins of my friends, that I cannot mention 
the one without the other. 

But coming now to my greatest sin, I must tell 
you, that a nun of our assembly has a friar her 
devoto, the most beautiful young man, and w'e 
contrived and agreed together to bring him into the 
convent, as we did, and have kept him two and 
twenty days in our chamber : During which time 
we went to the grate very seldom, on pretence of 
being not well. We have given no scandal, for 
nobody has suspected the least thing in the case. 
And this is the greatest sin I have committed with 
man. 



68 HISTORY OP THE 

Conf, Pray, tell me, how could you let him in 
without scandal ? 

Nun, One of the assembly contrived to mat 
all the floor of her chamber, and sent for the 
mat-maker to take the measure of the length and 
breadth of the room, and to make it in one piece, and 
send it to the Sexton's chamber, who is a poor 
ignorant fellow. When the mat was there, and the 
man paid for it, one day in the evening we sent the 
sexton on several messages, and kept the key of his 
room. The friar had asked leave of his prior to go 
into the country for a month's time, and disguising 
himself in a layman's habit, feeing well two porters, 
came in the dusk of the evening into the sexton's 
room, and rolling up himself in the mat, the porters 
brought the mat to the door, where we were 
waiting for it ; and, taking it, we carried it up to one 
of our chambers. We were afraid that the porters 
would discover the thing, but by money we have 
secured ourselves from them ; for we hired ruffians 
to make away with them. We put him out of the 
convent in a great chest which could be opened on 
the inside, and of which he had the key, and giving 
the chest to the sexton, he and the servant of the 
convent carried it into the sexton's room. We 
ordered him to leave the key at the door, for we ex- 
pected some relations which were to take a collation 
there ; and we sent him on some errand till the friar 
had got out of the chest and of danger. 

A month after, three of our friends began to 
perceive the condition they were in, and left the 



POPISH CHURCH. 69 

convent in one night, by which they have given great 
scandal to the city, and we do not know what has 
become of them ; as for me, I design to do the same, 
for I am under the same apprehensions and fear ; for 
I consider that if I do continue in the convent, 
my unusual size will discover me, and though one 
life shall be saved, I shall lose mine by the rulers of 
our order in a miserable manner, and not only so, but 
a heavy reflection will fall upon the whole order, and 
the dishonor of my family shall be the more public : 
Whereas, if I quit the convent by night, I save two 
lives, and the world will reflect only upon me, and 
then I shall take care to go so far off" that nobody 
shall hear of me ; and as I am sure, in my conscience, 
that I am not a nun for want of intention, when I 
did promise to keep obedience, chastity, poverty, 
and perpetuity, I shall not incur the crime of apos- 
tacy in leaving the convent ; and if I continue in it, 
I am fully resolved to prevent my ruin and death by 
a strong operating remedy. This is all I have to say, 
and I do expect from y©u not only your advice, but 
your assistance too. 

Conf, I do find the case so intricate, that I want 
experience and learning to resolve what to do in it ; 
and I do think it proper for you to send for another 
confessor of years and learning, and then you shall 
have the satisfaction of being well directed and 
advised. 

Nun. Now, reverend father, I do tell you positively,, 
that I shall never open my heart to another confessor,, 
while I live ; and if you do not advise me what ta 



70 HIST a Kir OF THE 

do, I shall call you before God for it ; and now I lay 
upon you whatever thing may happen in my case. 

Conf. Ignorance will excuse me from sin, and I 
tell you I am ignorant how to resolve the case. 

Nun. I am resolved for all events, and if you. 
refuse me this comfort, I shall cry out, and say, that 
you have been soliciting and corrupting me in the 
very act of confession, and you shall suffer for it in 
the inquisition. 

Conf. Well, have patience, means may be found 
out ; and if you give me leave to consult the case, I 
shall resolve you about it in three days time. 

Nun. How can you consult my case, without 
exposing the order, and my reputation too, perhaps,, 
by some circumstance ? 

Conf. Leave it to me, and be not uneasy about 
it, and I do promise to come with the resolution on 
Sunday next. 

Nun. Pray, Father, if it be possible, come next 
Monday morning, and I shall be free from company.. 
Conf It is very well : but in the mean time, 
have before your eyes the wrath of God against those 
that abandon themselves and forget that he is a living 
God, to punish suddenly great sinners ; and with. 
this, farewell. 

My mind never before was so much ti'oubled as 
it was after this case. I was, more by the interests 
of others, than by my learning, appointed penitentiary 
confessor in the cathedral church of St. Salvator ; 
and as the duty of such a confessor is to be every 
day, in the morning, four hours in the confessionary. 



POPISH CHURCH. 71 

from eight to twelve, except he be •called abroad — 
every body thinks that such a confessor must be able 
to resolve all cases and difficulties : But it was not 
so with me ; for I was young and without experi- 
ence. And as to this case, the next academical day 
I proposed it in the following manner. 

There is a person bound by word of mouth, but at 
the same time without intention, nay, with a mind 
and heart averse to it ; bound, I say, to obedience, 
thastitt/j and poverty. If the person leaves the con- 
vent, the crime of apostacy is not committed in foro 
interno ; and if the person continues in the convent, 
the consequence is to be a great sin in foro externo 
and interno. The person expects the resolution, or 
else is fully resolved to expose the confessor to 
scandal and personal sufferings : This is the case 
which I humbly lay down before your learned 
reverences. 

The president's t>pinion was, that in such a case, 
the confessor was obliged, in the first place, to reveal 
it in general terms to the holy inquisitors ; for (said 
he) though this case is not mentioned in our authors, 
there are others very like this, which ought to be 
revealed, viz : all those that are against either the 
temporal or spiritual good of our neighbor, which 
-cases are reserved to the bishop or to his deputy ; 
and this case, by the last circumstance, being injuri- 
ous to the holy tribunal, the confessor ought to 
prevent the scandal which might otherwise fall upon 
him, to reveal the last circumstance. As for the first 
tjircumstance of the case, in this and others, we must 



72 HISTORYOFTHE 

judge secundum allegata and probata; and we 
must suppose, that no penitent comes to confess with 
a lie in his mouth ; therefore, if the person affirms 
that he was bound without intention, he is free before 
God : Besides, in rebus dubiis minimum est sequen- 
dum ; so to prevent greater eivil, I think the person 
may be advised to quit the convent ; and this is 
agreeable to the Pope's dispensations to such persons, 
when they swear and produce witness, that (before 
they were bound to the vow) heard the person say 
they had no intention to it. 

The reverend Mr. Palomo's opinion was, that the 
confessor was to take the safest part, which was to 
advise the penitent to send to Rome for a dispensa- 
tion, which could be obtained by money, or to the 
Pope's Nuncio, who would give leave to quit the 
convent for six months, upon necessity of preserving 
or recovering bodily health ; and in that time, may 
be the person would dissipate some fumes of grief or 
melancholy fancies, &c. 

But I replied to this, that the person could not do 
the first, for want of witness, nor the second, for 
being in perfect health, the physician never would 
grant his certificate to be produced before the Pope's 
Nuncio, which is absolutely necessary in such cases ; 
and as to revealing the case to the holy inquisitors, 
it is very dangerous, both to the person and the con- 
fessor, as we could prove by several instances. 

To this, several members being of my opinion, it 
was resolved, that the confessor, first of all, was to 
absolve the penitent, having a bull of cruzade and 



POPISHCHURCH. 73 

extra confessionem, or out of confession give, as a 
private person, advice to the penitent to quit the 
convent and take a certificate : Wherein the peni- 
tent was to specify, that the confessor had given such 
advice extra actum confessionis. The case and 
resolution was entered in the academy's book. And 
accordingly Monday following, I went to the nun 
and performed Avhat was resolved ; and the very same 
week, we heard in the city, that such a nun had made 
her escape out of the convent. 

Two years and a half after this, I saw this very 
nun one day at the court of Lisbon, but I did not 
speak with her, for as I was dressed like an officer of 
the army, I thought she would not know me ; but I 
was mistaken, for she knew me in my disguise as 
well as I did her. The next day she came to my 
lodgings followed by a lacquay, who, by her orders, 
had dogged me the night before. I was troubled for 
fear to be discovered, that I thought the best way I 
could take was to run away and secure myself in an 
English ship : But by her first words, I discovered 
that her fear was greater than mine : for after giving 
me an account of her escape out of the convent, and 
safe delivery, she told me that a Portuguese captain 
happening to quarter in the same town where she 
was, took her away one night, and carried her to. 
Barcelonia, but that she refusing to comply with his 
desires, on any but honorable terms, he had married 
h6r and brought her to Lisbon : That her husband 
knew nothing of her having been a nuA ; that she 
took another name, and that she was very happy 

10 



74 HISTORYOFTHE 

with her husband, who was very rich, and a man of 
good sense. She begged me with tears in her eyes 
not to ruin her by discovering any thing of her Ufe 
past. I assured her, that nothing should happen on 
my account, that should disoblige her; and after- 
wards she asked me why I was not dressed in a 
clerical habit ? To which I desired her to take no 
notice of it, for I was there upon secret business and 
of great consequence, and that as there was nobody 
there who knew me in Saragossa, it was proper to be 
disguised. She desired my leave to introduce me to 
her husband, under the title of a country gentleman, 
who was come thither for Charles the 3d's sake. I 
thanked her, and she went home overjoyed with my 
promise, and I was no less with hers. The next day 
her husband came to visit me, and ever after, we 
visited almost every day one another, till I left that 
city. This I say, she was a better wife than she had 
been a nun, and lived more religiously in the world, 
than she had done in the cloister of the convent. 

Now I must leave off the account of private cases 
and confessions, not to be tedious to the readers by 
insisting too long a time upon one subject. But, as 
I promised to the public to discover the most secret 
practices of the Romish priests, in this point of auri- 
cular confession, I cannot dismiss nor put an end to 
this first chapter, without performing my promise. 

By the account I have already given of a few 
private confessions, every body may easily know the 
wickedness of the Romish priests, but more particu- 
larly their covetousness and thirst of money will be 
detected by my following observations. 



POPISH CHURCH. 75 

First of all, if a poor countryman goes to confess, 
the father confessor takes Uttle pains with him, for, as 
he expects Uttle or nothing from him, he heajeth him, 
and with bitter words corrects the poor man, and, 
most commonly, without any correction, imposing 
upon him a hard penance, sends him away with the 
same ignorance he went to confess. 

2. If a soldier happens to go to make his peace 
with God, (so they express themselves when they go 
to confess) then the confessor showeth the power of 
a spiritual guide. He questions him about three sins 
only, viz. thefts, drunkenness and uncleanness. 
Perhaps the poor soldier is free from the two first, 
but if he is guilty of the last, the confessor draws the 
consequence that he is guilty of all the three, and 
terrifying him with hell, and all the devils, and the 
fire of it, he chargeth him with restitution, and that 
he is obliged to give so much money for the relief of 
souls in purgatory, or else he cannot get absolution. 
So the poor man, out of better conscience than his 
confessor, offers a month's pay, which must be given 
upon the spot (for in the shop of the confessors there 
is neither trust nor credit) to appease the rough, bitter 
confessor, and to get absolution ; and I believe this 
hard way of using the poor soldiers is the reason that 
they did not care at all for that act of devotion ; and 
as they are so bad customers to the confessor's shop, 
the confessors use their endeavors, when they go to 
buy absolution, to sell it as dear as they can ; so they 
pay at one time for two, three, or more years. 

I heard a soldier, damning the confessors, say, "if 



f6 HiSll'Ol^YOfTHE 

1 continue in the king's service twenty years, I will 
not go to confess, for it is easier and cheaper to lift up 
my finger* and be absolved by our chaplain, than go 
to a devilish friar, who doth nothing but rail and 
grumble at me, and yet I must give him money for 
masses, or else he will not absolve me : 1 will give 
him leave to bury me alive, if ever he gets me near 
him again." 

If a collegian goes to confess, he finds a mild and 
sweet confessor, and without being questioned, and 
with a small penance, he generally gets absolution. 
The reason the confessors have to use the collegians 
with so great civility and mildness is, first, because 
if a collegian is ill-used by his confessor, he goes to a 
deaf friar, who absolves ad dexteram and ad sinis- 
tram, all sorts of penitents for a real of plate ; and 
after, he inquireth and examineth into all the other 
confessor's actions, visits and intrigues ; and when 
he has got matter enough, he will write a lampoon 
on him, which has happened very often in my time, 
So the confessor dares not meddle with the collegians, 
for fear that his tricks should be brought to light ; 
and another reason is, because the collegians, for the 
generality are like the Jilles de joye in Lent', i. e» 

*The custom of the Spanish army in the field, and the day 
before the battle, or before the engagement, the chaplain goes 
through all the companies, to ask the ofiicers whether they have 
a mind to confess, and if any one has any thing to say, he 
whispers in the chaplain's ear, and so through all the officers* 
As for the private men : Crying out, says, he that has a sin, let 
him lift up one finger, and gives a general absolution to all at 
once. 



POPISHCHURCH. 77 

without money, and so the confessor cannot expect 
any profit by them. 

I say, if absolution is denied to a collegian, he goes 
to a deaf confessor ; for some confessors are called 
deaf, not because they are really, but because they 
give small penance without correction ; and never 
deny absolution, though the sins be reserved to the 
Pope. I knew two Dominican friars, who were 
known by the name of deaf confessors, because they 
never used to question the penitent. 

Only one of such confessors has more business in 
Lent, than twenty of the others, for he (like our 
couple -beggars, who for six pence do marry the 
people) for the same sum gives absolution. And for 
this reason all the great and habitual sinners go to 
the deaf confessor, who gives, upon a bargain, a 
certificate, in which he says that such a one has 
fulfiled the commandment of the church, for every 
body is obliged to produce a certificate of confession 
to the minister of the parish before Easter, or else he 
must be exposed in the church : So as it is a hard 
thing for any old sinner to get absolution, and a 
certificate from other covetous confessors, without a 
^reat deal of money, they generally go to the deaf 
confesso7's. I had a friend in the same convent, who 
told me, that such confessors were obliged to give 
two-thirds of their profit to the community, and being 
only two deaf confessors in that convent, he assured 
me, that in one lent, they gave to the father prior 600 
pistoles a piece. I found the thing incredible, think- 
ing that only poor and debauched people used to go 



78 HISTORYOFTHE 

to them ; but he satisfied me, saying, that rich and 
poor, men and women, priests and nuns^ were cus^ 
tomers to them, and that only the poor and loose 
people used to go to confess in the church ; but as 
for the rich, priests and nuns, they were sent for by 
them, in the afternoon, and at night ; and that the 
poor Deafs had scarcely time to get their rest ; and 
that when they were sent for, the common price was 
a pistole, and sometimes ten pistoles, according to the 
quality and circumstances of the person. And thus 
much of deaf confessors. 

.4. If a friar or priest comes to confess, every body 
ought to suppose, that the father-confessor has nothing 
to do, but to give the penance, and pronounce the 
words of absolution ; for both penitent and confessor 
being of the same trade, and of the same corporation, 
or brotherhood ; the fashion of this cloak of absolution 
is not paid among them, and they work one for 
another, Avithout any interest, in expectation of the 
same return. 

This must be understood between the friars only, 
not between a friar and a secular priest ; for these 
do not like one another, and the reason is, because 
the friars, for the generality, are such officious and 
insinuating persons in families, that by their impor- 
tunities and assiduity of visits, they become at last 
the masters of families, and goods ; so the secular 
priest hath nothing to busy himself with ; and 
observe, that there are twenty friars to one secular 
priest, so the small fish is eaten by the greater ; 
therefore, if it happens sometimes upon necessity, 



POPISHCKURCH. 79 

that a priest goes to (X)nfess to a friar, or a friar to a 
priest, they make use of such an opportunity, to exact 
as much as they can from one another. 

I know a good merry priest, who had been in 
company with a friar's devota, i. e. in proper terms, 
mistress : and jested a httle with her : Afterwards, 
the poor priest having something to confess, and no 
other confessor in his way, but the devoto of that 
devota, he was forced to open his heart to him ; but 
the confessor was so hard upon him, that he made 
him pay on the nail two pieces of eight, to %et abso- 
hition. So he paid dear for jesting with the mistress 
of a friar ; and he protested to me, that if it ever 
happened, that that friar should come to confess to 
him, he should not go away at so cheap a rate. 

This I can aver, that I went to a Franciscan 
convent the second day of August, to get the indul- 
gences of the Jubilee of Porciunculae, and my confes- 
sor was so hard, that he began to persuade me, he 
could not absolve me without a pistole in hand : I 
told him, that I had not confessed any reserved sin, 
and that he did not know I could ruin him : But the 
friar, knowing that it was a great scandal to get up 
from his feet without adsolution, he insisted on it ; 
and I was obliged to avoid scandal, to give him his 
demand. After the confession was over, as I had 
been in a great passion at the unreasonable usage 
of the friar ; I thought it was not fit for me to cele- 
brate the Mass without a new reconciliation (as we 
call the short confession,) so I went to the father- 
guardian or superior of the convent, and confessing 



80 HISTORYOFTHE 

that sin of passion, occasioned by the covetous usage 
of such a confessor, his correction to me was, to pay 
down another pistole for scandalizing both the friar 
and the Franciscan habit ; I refused the correction, 
and went home without the second absolution. I 
had a mind to expose both of them ; but upon second 
thoughts, I did nothing at all, for fear that the whole 
order should be against me. 

5. If a modest, serious, religious lady comes to 
confess, he useth her in another way ; for he knows 
that such ladies never come to confess, without giving 
a good charity for Masses ; so all the confessor^s care 
is, to get himself into the lady's favor, which he doth 
by hypocritical expressions of godliness and devotion, 
of humility and strictness of life. He speaks gravely 
and conscientiously, and if the lady has a family, he 
gives her excellent advices, as, to keep her children 
within the limits of sobriety and virtue, for the world 
is so deceitful, that we ought always to be upon our 
guard ; and to watch continually over our souls, &c. 
And by that means and the like, (the good lady 
believing him a sincere and devout man,) he becomes 
the guide of her soul, of her house and family, and 
most commonly the ruin of her children, and some- 
times her own ruin too. I will give the following 
instance to confirm this truth ; and as the thing was 
public, I need not scruple to mention it with the real 
names. In the year 1706, F. Antonio Gallardo, Au- 
gustin friar, murdered Donna Isabella Mendez, and 
a child three weeks old sucking at her breast. The 
lady was but twenty -four years of age, and had been 




11 



82 HISTORYOFTHE 

married eight years to Don Francisco Mendez. The 
friar had been her spiritual guide all that while, and 
all the family had so great a respect and esteem for 
him, that he was the absolute master of the house. 
The lady was brought to bed, and Don Francisco 
being obliged to go into the country for four days, 
desired the father to come and lie in his house, and 
take care of it in his absence. The father's room 
was always ready : so he went there the same day 
Don Francisco went into the country. At eight at 
night, both the father and the lady went to supper, 
and after he sent all the maids and servants into the 
hall to sup, the lady took the child to give him suck ; 
and the friar told her, in plain and short reasons, his 
love, and that without any reply or delay, she must 
comply with his request. The lady said to him, 
Father, if you propose such a thing to try my faith- 
fulness and virtue, you know my conscience these 
eight years past ; and if you have any ill design, I 
will call my family to prevent your further assurance. 
The friar then in fury taking a knife, killed the child, 
and wounded so deeply the mother, that she died two 
hours after. The friar made his escape, but whether 
he went to his convent or not, we di^ not hear. I 
myself saw the lady dead, and went to her burial in 
the church of the old St. John. 

6. If a Beat a goes to confess, which they do every 
day, or at least every other day, then the Confessor, 
with a great deal of patience, hears her (sure of his 
reward.) I cannot pass by without giving a plain 
description of the women called Beatas, i. e. blessed 



POPISHCHURCH. 83 

women. These are most commonly tradesmen's 
wives, [generally speaking, ugly] and of a middle age. 
But this rule has some exceptions, for there are some 
Beatas young and handsome. They are dressed 
with modesty, and walk, with a serious coimtenance. 
But since their designs in this outward modesty, were 
discovered, they are less in number and almost out 
of fashion, since king Philip came to the throne of 
Spain ; for the French liberty and freedom being 
introduced amongst the ladies, they have no occasion 
of stratagems to go abroad when they please : So, 
as the design of a Beata was to have an excuse, on 
pretence of confession, to go out, suhlata causa 
tollitur effectus. 

The Confessor, I said, of a Beata, was sure of his 
reward ; for she, watching the living and dead, useth 
to gather money for masses, from several people, to 
satisfy her confessor for the trouble of hearing her 
impertinences every day. A Beata sometimes makes 
her confesssor beleive that many things were revealed 
to her by the Holy Spirit ; sometimes she pretends to 
work miracles ; and by such visions^ fancies, or 
dreams, the confessors fall' into horrible crimes before 
God and the world. 

The following instance, which was published by the inquisitors, 
will be a testimony of this truth. I give the real names of the 
persons in this account, because the thing was made public. 

In the city of Saragossa, near the college of St. 
Thomas of Villaneuva, lived Mary Guerrero, married 
*o a tailor ; she was handsome, witty, and ambitious : 



84 HISTORTOFTHE 

but as the rank of a tailor's wife could not make her 
shine among the quality, she undertook the life of sL 
Beata, to be known by it in the city. The first step 
she was to make was to choose a confessor of good 
parts, and of good reputation among the nobility ; so 
she pitched upon the reverend Father Fr. Michael 
Navarro, a Dominican Friar, a man who was D. D. 
and a man universally well beloved for his doctrine 
and good behaviour. But, quando Venus vigilat, 
Minerva dormit. She began to confess to him, and 
in less than a year, by her feigned modesty, and 
hypocritical airs ; and by confessing no sins, but the 
religious exercises of her life ; the reverend father 
began to publish in the city her sanctity to the highest 
pitch. Many ladies and gentlemeii of the first rank, 
desirous to see the new saint, sent for her, but she 
did not appear, but by her maid, gave a denial to all. 
This was a new addition to the fame of her sanctity, 
and a new incitement to the ladies to see her. So 
some, going to visit Father Navarro, desired the favor 
of him to go along with them, and introduce them 
to the blessed Guerrero : But the father, (either 
bewitched by her, or in expectation of a bishoprick, 
for the making of a saint, or the better to conceal his 
private designs,) answered, that he could not do such 
a thing ; for, knowing her virtue, modesty, and 
aversion to any act of vanity, he should be very much 
in the wrong to give her opportunities of cooling her 
fervent zeal and purity. 

By that means, rich and poor, old and young, men 
and women, began to resort to her neighbor's house, 



POPISHCHURCH. 85 

and the Dominican church, only to see the blessed 
Guerrero. She showed a great displeasure at these 
popular demonstrations of respect, and resolved to 
keep close at home ; and after a long consultation 
with the Father Navarro, they agreed that she should 
keep her room, and that he would go to confess her, 
and say mass in her room, (for the Dominicans, and 
the four Mendicant orders, have a privilege for their 
friars to say Mass, or, as they say, to set an altar 
every where.) To begin this new way of living, the 
father charged her husband to quit the house and 
never appear before his wife ; for his sight would be 
a great hindrance to his wife^s sanctity and purity : 
and the poor sot believing every thing, went away 
and took a lodging for himself and apprentice. 

They continued this way of living, both she and 
the Father, a whole year ; but the fatigue of going 
every day to say Mass and confess the blessed, being 
too great for the reverend, he asked leave from the 
reverend father Buenacasa, then prior of the convent, 
to go and live with her as a spiritual guide. The 
prior, foreseeing some great advantage, gave him 
leave, so he went for good and all to be her lodger and 
master of the houi^. When the father was in the 
house, he began by degrees to give permission to the 
people now and then to see the blessed, through the 
glass of a little window, desiring them not to make a 
noise, for fear of disturbing the blessed in her exercise 
of devotion ; She was in her own room, always upon 
her knees, when some people were to see her through 
the glass, which was in the wall between her room 



86 HISTORY or THE 

and that of the reverend. In a few months after, the 
archbishop went to see her, and conversed with her 
and the father Navarro, who was in great friendship 
with, and much honored by his Grace. This example 
of the prelate put the nobility in mind to do the same. 
The viceroy not being permitted by his royal repre- 
sentation to go to her, sent his coach one night for 
her, and both the father and the bhsssd had the 
honor to sup in private with his Excellancy. This 
being spread abroad, she was troubled with coaches 
and presents from all sorts and conditions of people. 
Many sick went there in hopes to be healed by her 
sight ; and some that happened to go when nature 
itself was upon the crisis, or by the exercise of 
walking, or by some other natural operation, finding 
themselves better, used to cry out, a miracle, a 
miracle ! She wanted nothing but to be carried on a 
pedestal upon the ignorant's shoulders : The fame 
of her sanctity was spread so far, that she was 
troubled every post day with letters from people of 
quality in other provinces, so the reverend was 
obliged to take a secretary under him, and a porter 
to keep the door ; for they had removed to another 
house of better appearance and more conveniency. 
Thus they continued for the space of two years, and 
all this while the reverend was writing the life of the 
blessed; and many times he was pressed to print 
part of her life-; but the time of the discovery of 
itheir wickedness being come, they were taken by am 
^rder from the holy inquisition. 

The discovery happened thus: Ann Moroia, a 



POPISHCHURGH. 87 

surgeon's wife, who lived next door to the blessed, 
had a child of ten months old ; and, as a neighbor, 
she went to desire the reverend to beg of the blessed 
to take the child and kiss him, thinking, that by such 
an holy kiss, her child would be happy forever. But 
the reverend desiring her to go herself and make the 
request to the blessed, she did it accordingly. Mary 
Guerrero took the child, and bid the mother leave 
him with her for a quarter of an hour. Ann Moron 
then thought that her child was already in heaven ; 
but when in a quarter of an hour after, she came 
again for the child, the blessed told her, that her child 
was to die the night following, for so God had 
revealed to her in a short prayer she made for the 
child. The child really died the night following, but 
the surgeon, as a tender father, seeing some spots and 
marks in his child's body, opened it, and found in it 
the cause of its unfortimate death, which was a dose 
of poison. Upon this suspicion of the child's being 
poisoned, and the foretelling of his death by the 
blessed, the father went to the inquisitors, and told 
the nature of the thing. 

Don Pedro Guerrero, the first inquisitor, was then 
absent; so Don Francisco Torrejon, second inquisi- 
tor went himself to examine the thing, and seeing 
the child dead, and all the circumstances against the 
blessed, he then ordered that she and the reverend, 
and all their domestic servants, should be secured 
immediately, and sent to the holy inquisition. All 
things were done accordingly, and this sudden and 
unexpected accident made such a noise in town, that 



88 HISTORYOPTHE 

every body reasoned in his own way, but nobody 
dared to speak of the inquisitor. At the same time 
every thing in the house was seized upon, with the 
papers of the reverend, &c. Among the papers was 
found the hfe of the blessed, written by father 
Navarro's own hand. I said in the beginning that 
he was bewitched, and so many people believed ; for 
it seemed incredible that so learned a man as he was 
in his own religion, should fall into so gross an igno- 
rance as to write such a piece, in the method it was 
found composed ; for the manuscript contained about 
six hundred sheets, which by an order of the inquisi- 
tors, were sent to the qualijicators of the holy office, 
to be reviewed by them, and to have their opinions 
thereupon. I shall speak of these qualificators, when 
I come to treat of the inquisitors and their practices. 
Now it is sufficient to say, that all the qualificators, 
being examinators of the crimes committed against 
the holy catholic faith, examined the sheets, and their 
opinion was, that the book entitled the life of the 
blessed Mary Guerrero, composed by the reverend 
father Fr. Michael Navarro, was scandalous, false, 
and against revealed doctrines in the Scripture, and 
good manners, and that it deserved to be burnt in 
the common yard of the holy offiice, by the mean 
officer of it. 

After this examination was made, the inquisitors 
summoned two priests out of every parish church, 
and two friars out of every convent, to come such a 
day to the hall of the holy tribunal, to be present at 
the trial and examinations against Mary Guerrero, 



POPISHCHURCH. 89 

and Michael Navarro. It was my turn to go to that 
trial for the cathedral church of St. Salvator. We 
went the day appointed, and all the summoned priests 
and friars, to the number of one hundred and fifty, 
besides the inquisitors, officers of the inquisition, and 
qualificators ; these had the cross of the holy office 
before their breasts, which is set upon their habits in 
a very nice manner. The number of qualificators I 
reckoned that day in the hall, were two hundred and 
twenty. When all the summoned were together, 
and the inquisitors under a canopy of black velvet, 
(which is placed at the right corner of the altar, upon 
which was an image of the crucifix, and six yellow 
wax candles, without any other light,) they made 
the signal to bring the prisoners to the bar, and 
immediately they came out of prison, and kneeling 
down before the holy fathers, the secretary began to 
read the articles of the examination, and convictions 
of their crimes. 

Indeed, both the father and the blessed appeared 
that day very much like saints, if we will believe the 
Roman's proverb, that paleness and thin visage is a 
sign of sanctity. The examination, and the lecture 
of their crimes was so long, that We were summoned 
three times more upon the same trial, in which to the 
best of my memory, I heard the following articles : 

That by the blessed's confession to Michael Na- 
varro, this in the beginning of her life says : 1st. 
That the blessed creature knew no sin since she was 
born into the world. 2d. She has been several times 
visited by the angels in her closet j and Jesus Christ 

12 



90 HISTORYOFTHE 

himself has come down thrice to give her new 
heavenly instructions. 3d. She was advised by the 
divine spouse to live separately from her husband. 
4th. She was once favored with a visit of the holy 
trinity, and then she saw Jesus at the left hand of the 
Father. 5th. The holy dove came afterwards and 
sat upon her head many times. 6th. This holy 
comforter has foretold her, that her body after death 
shall be always incorruptable ; and that a great king, 
with the news of her death, shall come to honor her 
sepulchre with this motto : "The soul of this warrior* 
is the glory of my kingdom." 7th. Jesus Christ, in 
a Dominican's habit, appeared to her at night, and in 
a celestial dream she was overshadowed by the spirit. 
8th. She had taken out of purgatory seven times the 
soul of her companion's sister. (What folly !) 9th. 
The Pope and the whole church shall rejoice in her 
death ; nay, his holiness shall canonize her, and put 
her in the litany before the apostles, &c. 

After these things, her private miracles were read, 
&c., and so many passages of her life, that it would 
be too tedious to give an account of them. I only 
write these to show the stupidity of the reverend 
Navarro, who, if he had been in his perfect senses, 
could not have committed so gross an error. — (This 
was the pious people's opinion.) — The truth is, that the 
Blessed was not overshadowed by the spirit, but by 
her confessor ; for she being at that time with child, 
and delivered in the inquisition, one article against 

* Guerrero fin Spanish, signifies warrior. 



POPISH CHURCH. 91 

the father was, that he had his bed near her bed, and 
that he was the father of the new child, or monster 
on earth. 

Their sentences were not read in public, and what 
was their end we know not ; only we heard that the 
husband of the blessed had notice given him by an 
officer of the holy office, that he was at liberty to 
marry any other he had a fancy for ; and by this true 
accomit the public may easily know the extravagances 
of the Romish confessors, who, blinded either by their 
own passions, or by the subtilties of the wicked beatas ; 
do commit so great and heineous crimes, &c. 

There is another sort of beatas, whom we call 
endemoniadas, i. e. demoniacs, and by these possessed 
the confessor gets a vast deal of masses. I will tell 
you, reader, the nature of the thing, and by it you 
will see the cheat of the confessor and the demoniac. 
I said before, that among the beatas there are two 
sorts, young, and of middle age, but all married ; and 
that the young undertake the way of confessing every 
day, or three times a week, to get an opportunity of 
going abroad, and be delivered a while from their 
husband's jealousies: But many husbands being 
jealous of the flies that come near their wives, they 
scarcely give them leave to go to confess. Observe 
further, that those women make their husbands 
beheve that out of spite, a witch has given them the 
evil spirit, and they make such unusual gestures, both 
with their faces and mouths, that it is enough to 
make the world laugh only at the sight of them. 
When they are in the fit of the evil spirit they talk 



92 HISTORYOFTHE 

blasphemously against God and his saints ; they beat 
husbands and servants ; they put themselves in such 
a sweat, that when the evil spirit leaves them for a 
while, (as they say,) they cannot stand upon their 
feet for excessive fatigue. The poor deceived hus- 
bands, troubled in mind and body, send for a physi- 
cian ; but this says, he has no remedy for such a 
distemper, and that physic knows no manner of devil, 
and so, their dealing being not of the spirit, but with 
the body, he sends the husband to the spiritual 
physician ; and by that means they are, out of a good 
design, procurers for their own wives ; for really 
they go to the spiritual father, begging his favor and 
assistance to come to exorcise, i. e. to read the prayer 
of the church, and to turn out the evil spirit out of his 
wife's body. Then the father makes him understand, 
that the thing is very troublesome, and that if the devil 
is obstinate and positive, he cannot leave his wife in 
three or four nights, and may be, in a month or two ; 
by which he must neglect other business of honor and 
profit. To this the deluded husband promises that 
his trouble shall be well recompenced, and puts a 
peice of gold in his hand, to make him easy ; so he 
pays beforehand for his future dishonor. Then the 
father exorcist goes along with him, and as soon as 
the wife hears the voice of the exorcist, she flies into 
an unmeasurable fury, and cries out, do not let that 
man (meaning the exorcist) come to torment me (as if 
the devil did speak in her and for her.) But he takes 
the hysop with holy water and sprinkles the room. 
Here the demoniac throweth herself on the floor, 



POPISHCHURCH. 93 

teareth her clothes and hair, as if she was perfectly a 
mad woman. Then the priest tieth the blessed stole, 
i. e. a sort of scarf they make use of among other 
ornaments to say mass, upon her neck, and begins 
the prayers. Sometimes the devil is very timorous, 
and leaves the creature immediately easy ; sometimes 
he is obstinate, and will resist a long while before he 
obeys the exorcisms of the church ; but at last he 
retires himself into his own habitation, and frees the 
creature from his torments ; for, they say, that the 
devil or evil spirit, sometimes has his place in the 
head, sometimes in the stomach, sometimes in the 
liver, &c. After the woman is easy for a Avhile, they 
eat and drink the best that can be found in the town. 
A while after, when the husband is to mind his 
own business, the wife, on pretence that the evil 
spirit begins again to trouble her, goes into her 
chamber and desireth the father to hear her confes- 
sion. They lock the door after them, and what they 
do for an hour or two, God only knoweth. These 
private confessions and exercises of devotion continue 
for several months together, and the husband loath to 
go to bed with his wife, for fear of the evil spirit, 
goes to another chamber, and the father lieth in the 
same room with his wife on a field-bed, to be always 
ready, when the malignant spirit comes, to exorcise, 
and beat him with the holy Stola. So deeply igno- 
rant are the people in that part of the world, or so 
great bigots, that on pretence of religious remedies to 
cure their wives of the devilish distemper, they 
contract a worse distemper on their heads and honors, 



94 HISTORY OF THE 

which no physician, either spiritual or corporal, can 
ever cure. 

When in a month or two, the father and demoniac 
have settled matters between themselves, for the 
time to come, he tells the husband, that the devil is 
in a great measure tamed, by the daily exorcisms of 
the holy mother, the church, and that it is time for 
him to retire, and mind other business of his convent ; 
and that, it being impossible for him to continue 
longer in his house, all he can do, is to serve him 
and her in his convent, if she goes there every day. 
The husband, with a great deal of thanks, pays the 
father for his trouble, who, taking his leave, goes to 
his community, and gives to the father prior two 
parts of the money (for the third part is allowed to him 
for his own pains.) The day following, in the morning 
the demoniac is worse than she was before : Then 
the husband, out of faith, and zeal of a good Christian, 
crieth out, the father is gone, and the devil is loose : 
The exorcisms of the church are not ready at hand, 
and the evil spirit thinks himself at liberty, and begins 
to trouble the poor creature : Let us send her to the 
convent, and the bold, malignant spirit shall pay dear 
there for this new attempt. So the wife goes to the 
father, and the father takes her into a little room, 
next to the vestry, (a place to receive their acquaint- 
ance, only of the female sex,) and there, both in 
private, the father appeases the devil, and the woman 
goes quiet and easy to her house, where she con- 
tinues in the same easiness till the next morning. 
Then the devil begins to trouble her again ; and the 



POPISH CHURCH. 95 

husband says, obstinate spirit ! You make all this 
noise because the hour of being beaten with the holy 
stola is near : I know that your spite and malice 
against the exorcisms of the church is great ; but the 
poAver of them is greater than thine : Go, go to the 
father, and go through all the lashes of the stola, So 
the woman goes again to the father, and in this 
manner of life they continue for a long while. 

There is of these beatas, in every convent church, 
not a few ; for sometimes, one of these exorcists keeps 
six, and sometimes ten, by whom, and their husbands, 
he is very well paid for the trouble of confessing them 
every day, and for taming the devil. But the most 
pleasant thing among those demoniacs is, that they 
have different devils that trouble them; for, by a 
strict commandment of the father, they are forced to 
tell their names, so one is called Belzebub, another 
Lucifer, &c. : And those devils are very jealous, one 
of another. I saw several times, in the body of the 
church, a battle among three of those demoniacs, on 
pretence of being in the fit of the evil spirit, 
threatening and beating one another, and calling one 
another nicknames, till the father came with the 
hysop, holy water and the stola, to appease them, 
and bid them to be silent, and not to make such a 
noise in the house of the Lord. And the whole 
matter was, (as we knew afterwards,) that the father 
exorcist was more careful of one than the others ; 
and jealousy (which is the worse devil) getting into 
their heads, they give it to their respective devils, 
who, with an infernal fury, fought one against 



96 HISTORYOFTHE 

another, out of pet and revenge for the sake of their 
lodging-room. 

In the city Huesca, where (as they beUeve) 
Ponthis Pilate was professor of law in the university, 
and his chair, or part of it, is kept in the bishop's 
palace for a show, and a piece of antiquity, (and 
which I saw myself,) I say, I saw, and conversed 
both with the father exorcist and the beata demoniac 
about the following instance : 

The thing not being publicly divulged, but among 
a few persons, I will give an account of it under the 
names of father John and Dorothea. This Dorothea, 
when thirteen years old, was married, against her incli- 
nations, to a tradesman fifty years old. The beauty of 
Dorothea, and the ugliness of her husband, were very 
much, the one admired, and the other observed by all 
the inhabitants of the city. The bishop's secretary 
made the match, and read the ceremony of the church, 
for he was the only executor of her father's will and 
testament. She was known by the name of Young 
dancing eyes. Her husband was jealous of her, in 
the highest degree : She could not go out without 
him ; and so she suffered this torment for the space 
of three years. She had an aversion, and a great 
antipathy against him. Her confessor was a young, 
well-shaped friar ; and whether out of her own con- 
trivance, or by the friar's advice, one day, unexpected 
by her husband, the devil was detected and mani- 
fested in her. What affliction this was to the old, 
amorous, jealous husband, is inexpressible. The 
poor man went himself to the Jesuit's college, next to 



POPISHCHURCH. 97 

his house, for an exorcist, but the Jesuit could do 
nothing to appease that devil, to the great surprise 
of the poor husband, and many others too, who. 
believe, that a Jesuit can command and overcome the 
devil himself, and that the devils are more afraid of 
a Jesuit, than of their sovereign prince in hell 

The poor husband sent for many others, but the 
effect did not answer the purpose, till at last her own 
confessor came to her, and after many exorcisms and 
private prayers, she was (or the devil in her) pacified 
for a while. This was a testimony of the father 
John's fervent zeal and virtue to the husband ; sa 
they settled how the case was to be managed for the 
future. Friar John was very well recompensed upon 
the bargain ; and both the demoniac and friar John 
continued in daily battle with the evil spirit for two 
years together. The husband began to sleep quiet 
and easy, thinking that his wife, having the devil in 
her body, was not able to be unfaithful to him ; for 
while the malignant torments the body, the woman 
begins to fast in public, and eat in private with the 
exorcist ; and the exercises of such demoniacs are all 
of prayers and devotions ; so the deceived husband 
believes it is better to have a demoniac wife, than 
one free from the evil spirit. 

The exorcisms of friar John, (being to appease not 
a spiritual, but a material devil,) he and Dorothea 
were both discovered, and found in the fact, by a 
friar in the same convent, who, by many presents 
from friar John and Dorothea, did not reveal the 
thing to the prior, but he told it to some of his friends^ 

13 



98 HISTORYOFTHE 

which were enemies to friar John, from whom I 
heard the story. For my part, I did not beUeve it 
for a while, till at last, I knew, that the friar John 
was removed into another convent, and that Dorothea 
left her house and husband, and went after him ; 
though the husband endeavored to spread abroad., 
that the devil had stolen his wife. These are the 
effects of the practices of the demoniacs and exorcists. 

Now I come lo the persons of public authority, either in ecclesi- 
astical, civil, or military affairs, and to the ladies of the first 
quality or rank in the world. As to those, I must beg leave 
to tell the truth, as well as of the inferior people. But, 
because the confessors of such persons are most commonly all 
Jesuits, it seems very apropos to give a description of those 
Fathers, their practices and lives, and to write of them, what 
I know to be a matter of fact. 

Almost in all the Roman-Catholic countries, the 
Jesuit fathers are the teachers of the Latin tongue, 
and to this purpose they have in every college, (so 
they call their convents) four large rooms, which are 
called the four classes for the grammar. There is 
one teacher in each of them. The city corporation, 
or political body, paying the rector of the Jesuits so 
much a year, and the young gentlemen are at no 
expense at all for learning the Latin tongue. The 
scholars lodge in town, and they go every day, from 
eight in the morning till eleven, to the college ; and 
when the clock strikes eleven, they go along with the 
four teachers to hear mass : They go at two in the 
afternoon, till half after four, and so they do all the 
year long, except the holidays, and the vacations 



POPISH CHURCH. 99 

from the fifteenth of August till the ninth of Septem- 
ber. As the four teachers receive nothing for their 
trouble, because the payment of the city goes to the 
community, they have contrived how to be recom- 
pensed for their labor : There were in the college of 
Saragossa, when I learned Latin, very near six 
hundi'ed scholars, noblemen, and tradesmen's sons ; 
every one was to pay every Saturday a real of plate 
for the rule (as they call it.) There is a custom, to 
have a public literal act once every day, to which are 
invited the young gentlemen's parents, but none of 
the common people. The father rector and all the 
community are present, and placed in their velvet 
chairs. To the splendid performance of this act, the 
four teachers choose twelve gentlemen, and each of 
them is to make, by heart, a Latin speech in the 
pulpit. They choose besides the twelve, one emperor, 
two kings, and two pretors, which are always the 
most noble of the young gentlemen : They wear 
crowns on then* heads that day, which is the dis- 
tinguishing character of their learning. The emperor 
sits under a canopy, the pretors on each side, and the 
kings a step lower, and the twelve senators in two 
lines next to the throne. This act lasts three hours ; 
and after all is over, the teachers and the father 
rector invite the nobility and the emperor, with the 
pretors, kings and senators, to go to the conmion hall 
of the college, to take refreshment of the most nice 
sweetmeats and best liquor. The fathers of the 
emperor, kings, pretors, and senators, are to pay for 
all the charges and expenses, which are fixed to be 



100 HISTORY OF THE 

a hundred pistoles every month. And every time 
there are new emperors or kings, &c, by moderate 
computation, we were sure, that out of the remainder 
of th€ hundred pistoles a month, and a real of plate 
every week from each of the scholars, the four father 
teachers had clear, to be divided among themselves 
every year, sixteen hundred pistoles. 

We must own that the Jesuits are very fit, and the 
most proper persons for the education of youth, and 
that all these exercises and public acts (though for 
their interests) are great stimulations and incitements 
to learning in young gentlemen ; for one of them 
will study night and day only to get the empty title 
of Emperor, &c. once in a month ; and their parents 
are very glad to expend eight pistoles a year to 
encourage their sons, and besides that, they believe, 
that they are under a great obligation to the Jesuit's 
college, and the Jesuits knowing their tempers, be- 
come, not only acquainted with them, but absolute 
masters of their houses : I must own, likewise, that 
I never heard of any Jesuit father, any thing against 
good manners or Christian^conversation ; for really, 
they behave themselves, as to outward appearance, 
with so great civility, modesty, and policy, that 
nobody has any thing to say against their deport- 
ment in the world, except self-interest and ambition. 
And really, the Jesuits' order is the richest of all 
the orders in Christendom ; and because the reason 
of it is not well known, I will now tell the ways by 
which they gather together so great treasures every 
where. As they are universally teachers of the 



POPISH CHURCH. 101 

Latin tongue, and have this opportunity to know the 
youth, they pitch upon the most ingenious young 
men, and upon the richest of all, though they be not 
very witty ; they spare neither time, nor persuasions 
nor presents, to persuade them to be of the society 
of Jesus (so they name their order) : the poor and 
ingenious are very glad of it, and the noble and rich 
too, thinking to be great men upon account of their 
quality : so their colleges are composed of witty and 
noble people. By the noble gentlemen they get 
riches ; by the witty and ingenious they support 
their learning, and breed up teachers and great men 
to govern the consciences of princes, people of public 
authority, and ladies of the first rank. 

They do not receive ladies in private in their 
colleges, but always in the middle of the church or 
chapel ; they never sit down to hear them. They 
do not recieve charity for masses, nor beatas, nor 
demoniacs in their church, (I never saw one there) 
their modesty and civil manners charm every one 
that speaks with them ; though I believe, all that is 
to carry on their private end and interests. They 
are indefatigable in the procuring the good of souls, 
and sending missionaries to catechise the children in 
the country ; and they have fit persons in every 
college for all sorts of exercises, either of devotion, of 
law, or policy, &c. They entertain nobody within 
the gate of the college, so nobody knows what they 
do among themselves. If it sometimes happens that 
one doth not answer their expectation, after he has 
taken the habit, they turn him out ; for they have 



102 HISTORY OP THE 

fourteen years trial : but as soon as they turn him 
out, they underhand procure a handsome settlement 
for him ; so that he who is expelled dares not say 
any thing against them, for fear of losing his bread. 
And if, after he is out, he behaves himself well, and 
gets some riches, he is sure to die a Jesuit. 

I heard of Don Pedro Segovia, who had been a 
Jesuit, but was tvirned out, but by the Jesuits' influ- 
ence, he got a prebendary in the cathedral church, 
and was an eminent preacher. He was afterwards 
constantly visited by them, and whenhe came to die, 
he asked again the habit, and being granted to him 
he died a Jesuit, and by his death the Jesuits became 
heirs of twenty thousand pistoles in money and lands. 

There are confessors of kings and princes, of 
ministers of state, and generals, and of all the people 
of distinction and estates. So it is no wonder if they 
are masters of the tenth part of the riches in every 
kingdom, and if God doth not put a stop to their 
covetousness, it is to be feared, that one way or other, 
they will become masters of all, for they do not seek 
dignities, being prohibited by the constitutions of 
their order, to be bishops and popes ; it is only 
allowed to them to be cardinals, to govern the pope 
by that means, as well as to rule emperors, kings, and 
princes. At this present time all the sovereigns of 
Europe have Jesuits for their confessors. 

Now it is high time to come to say something as 
to their practices in confessions ; and I will only 
speak of those I knew particularly well. 

First, The reverend father Navasques, professor 



POPISH CHURCH. 103 

of divinity in their college, was chosen confessor of 
the countess of Fuentes, who was left a widow at 
twenty-four years of age. This lady, as well as 
other persons of quality, kept a coach and servant 
for the father confessor. He has always a father 
companion to say mass to the lady. She allows so 
much a year to the college, and so much to her con- 
fessor and his companion. All persons have an 
oratory or chapel in their houses, by dispensation 
from the pope, for which they pay a great deal of 
money. There way of living is thus, in the morning 
they send the coach and servant to the college, most 
commonly at eleven of the clock : the father goes 
every day at that time, and the lords and ladies do 
not confess every day ; they have mass said at home 
and after mass, the reverend stays in the lady's 
company till dinner-time : then he goes to the college 
till six in the evening, and at six goes again to see 
the lady or lord, till eleven. What are their dis- 
courses I do not know, This I Imow, that nothing 
is done in the family without the reverend's advice 
and approbation. So it was with the countess' 
family, and when she died, the college got four 
thousand pistoles a year from her. 

The reverend father Muniessa, confessor of the 
dutchess of Villahermosa, in the same manner got at 
her death thirty thousand pistoles, and the reverend 
father Aranda, confessor to the countess of Aranda, 
got two thousand pistoles yearly rent from her, all 
for the college. Now what means they make use of 
to bewitch the people and to suck their substance, 



104 HISTORY OP THE 

every body may think, but nobody may guess at. 
An ingenious politician was asked how the Jesuits 
could be rightly described and defined, and he gave 
this definition of them. Jimicifrigidi, and inimici 
calidi, i. e. cold friends and warm enemies. And 
this is all I can write concerning their manners and 
practices. 

Before I dismiss this subject, I cannot pass by one 
instance more, touching the practices of confessors in 
general, and that is, that since I came to these 
northern countries, I have been told by gentlemen of 
good sense, and serious in their conversation, that 
many priests and friars were procurers (when they 
were in those parts of the world) and showed them 
the way of falling into the comman sin. It is no 
doubt they know all the lewd women by auricular 
confession, but I could not believe they could be so 
villanous and base, as to make a show of their 
wickedness before strangers. This I must say in 
vindication of a great many of them (for what I write 
is only of the wicked ones,) that they are many times 
engaged in intrigues unknown to themselves, and 
they are not to be blamed, but only the persons that 
with false insinuations, make them believe a lie for 
a truth, and this under a pretence of devotion. To 
clear this I will tell a story, which was told me by a 
colonel in the English service, who lives at present 
in London. 

He said to me that an officer, a friend of his, was 
a prisoner in Spain : his lodgings were opposite to a 
councellor's house. The councellor was old and 



POPISH CHURCH. 105 

jealous, the lady young, handsome, and confined, and 
the officer well shaped and very fair. The windows 
and balconies of the councellor were covered with 
narrow lattices, and the officer never saw any woman 
of that house. But the lady, who had several times 
seen him at his Avindow, could not long conceal her 
love ; so she sent for her father confessor, and spoke 
with him in the following manner : My reverend 
father, you are my spiritural guide, and you must 
prevent the ruin of my soul, reputation, and quietness 
of my life. Over the way, said she, lives an English 
officer, who is constantly at the window, making 
signs and demonstrations of love to me, and though 
I endeavor not to haunt my balcony, for fear of being 
found out by my spouse ; my waiting maid tells me 
that he is always there. You know my spouse's 
temper and jealousy, and if he observes the least 
thing in the world, I am undone forever. So to put 
a timely stop to this, I wish you would be so kind as 
to go over and desire him to make no more signs ; 
and that if he is a gentleman, as he seems to be, he 
will never do any thing to disquiet a gentlewoman. 
The credulous confessor, believing every syllable, 
went over to the English officer, and told him the 
message, asking his pardon for the liberty he took ; 
but that he could not help it, being as he was the 
lady's confessor. 

The officer, who was of a very fiery temper, 
answered him in a resolute manner. Hear, friar, 
said he to the confessor, go your way, and never 
come to me with such false stories, for I do not know 

14 



106 HISTORY OF THE 

what you say, nor I never saw any lady over the 
way. The poor father, full of shame and fear, took 
his leave, and went to deliver the answer to the lady 
What, said she, doth he deny the truth ? I hope God 
will prove my innocence before you, and that before 
two days. The father did comfort her, and went to 
his convent. The lady seeing her designs frustrated 
his way, did contrive another to let the officer know, 
her inclination. So one of her servants wrote a 
letter to her in the officers name, with many lovely 
expressions, and desiring her to be in her garden 
at eight in the dark evening, under a fig tree 
next to the walls. And recommending to her servant 
the secret, sealed the letter directed to her. Two 
days after, she sent for her confessor again, and told, 
him. Now my reverend father, God has put a letter, 
from the officer, into my hands to convince him and 
you of the truth. Pray take the letter and go to him 
and if he denies, as he did before, show him his own 
letter, and I hope he will not be so bold as to trouble 
me any more. He did accordingly, and the English 
gentleman answered as the first time ; and as he 
flew into a passion, the father told him. Sir, see this 
letter, and answer me : which the officer reading, 
soon understood the meaning, and said, Now, my 
good father, I must own my folly, for I cannot deny 
my handwriting, and to assure you, and the lady, that 
I shall be quite a different man for the future, pray 
tell her that I will obey her commands, and that I 
will never do any thing against her orders. The 
confessor, very glad of so unexpected good, success. 



POPISH CHURCH. 107 

as he thought, gave the answer to the lady, adding 
to it, Now, madam, you may be quiet, and without 
any fear, for he will obey you. Did not I tell you, 
said she, that he could not deny the fact of the letter ? 
So the confessor went home, having a very good 
opinion of the lady, and the English officer too, who 
did not fail to go to the rendezvous, &c. 

Every serious, religious man, will rather blame the 
wicked lady, than the confessor : for the poor man, 
though he was a procurer and instrument of bringing 
that intrigue to an effect, really he was innocent all 
the while ; and how could he suspect any thing of 
wantonness in a lady so devoutly affected and so 
watchful of the ruin of her soul, honor, and quietness 
of her life ? We must excuse them in such a case as 
this was, and say, that many and many confessors, 
if they are procurers, they do it unknown to them- 
selves, ajid out of pure zeal for the good of the souls, 
or to prevent many disturbances in a family : But as 
for those that, out of wickedness, busy themselves in 
so base and villanous exercises, I say, heaven and 
earth ought to rise in Judgment against them. They 
do deserve to be punished in this world, that, by their 
example, the same exercise might be prevented in 
others. 

I have given an account of some private confes- 
sions of both sexes, and of the most secret practices 
of some of the Roman-Catholic priests, according to 
what I promised the public in my printed proposals. 
And from all that is written and said, I crave leave 
to draw some few inferences. 



108 HISTORY OF THE 

First, I say, that the pope and councils are the 
original causes of the aforesaid misdoings and ill 
practices of the Romish priests. Marriage being 
forbidden to a priest, not by any commandment of 
God or divine scripture, but by a strict ordinance 
from the pope, an indisputable canon of the council. 
This was not practised by them for many centuries 
after the death of our saviour ; and the priests were 
then more religious and exemplary than they are now. 
I know the reasons their church has for it, which I 
will not contradict, to avoid all sort of controversy : 
But this I may say, that if the priests, friars and nuns 
were at lawful liberty to marry, they would be better 
Christians, the people richer in honor and estates, 
the kingdom better peopled, the king stronger, and 
the Romish religion more free from foreign attempts 
and calumnies. 

They do make a vow of chastity, and they break 
it by living loose, lewd, and irregular lives. They 
do vow poverty, and their thirst for riches is un- 
quenchable ; and whatever they get, is most com- 
monly by unlawful means. They swear obedience, 
and they only obey their lusts, passions and inclina- 
tion. How many sins are occasioned by binding 
themselves with these three vows in a monastical life, 
it is inexpressible : And all, or the greater number 
of sins committed by them, would be hindered, if the 
pope and ^council were to imitate the right^founda- 
tions of the primitive church, and the apostles of 
Jesus Christ our Saviour. 

As to particular persons, among the priests and 



POPISH CHURCH. 109 

friars, touching their corruptions and ill practices in 
auricular confession, I say, they do act against divine 
and human law in such practice, and are guilty of 
several sins, especially sacrilege and robbery. It is 
true, the Moral Summs are defective in the instruc- 
tion of confessors, as opinions, grounded in the erro- 
neous principles of their church: But as to the 
settled rules for the guiding and advising the penitent, 
what he ought to do, to walk uprightly, they are not 
defective ; so the confessors cannot plead ignorance 
for so doing, and consequently the means they make 
use of in the tribunal of conscience, are all sinful, 
being only to deceive and cheat the poor, ignorant 
people. 

Their practices then, are against divine and human 
law, contrary to the holy scriptures, nay, to humanity 
itself : For, Thou that teachest another, thou shalt 
not kill, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor covet 
thy neighbor's goods, nor wife : Dost thou all those 
things ? And to insist only on sacrilege and robbery. 
What can it be but robbery and sacrilege, to sell 
absolution, or, which is the same thing, to refuse it 
to the penitent, if he does not give so much money 
for masses ? 

This may be cleared by their own principles, and 
by the opinions of their casuistical authors, who agree 
in this, viz. : That there are three sorts of sacrilege, 
or a sacrilege which may be committed three different 
ways. These are the expressions they make use of : 
Sacrum in sacro : Sacrum ex sacro : Sacrum pro 
^acro. That is, to take a sacred thing for g, sacred 



110 HISTORY OF THE 

thing, a sacred thing in a sacred place ; and a sacred 
thing out of a sacred place. All these are robbery 
and sacrilege together, according to their opinions ; 
and I said that the confessors in their practices are 
guilty of all three ; for in their opinion, the holy 
tribunal of conscience is a sacred thing ; the absolu- 
tion and consecrated church are sacred likewise. As 
for the money given for the relief of the souls in 
purgatory, Corrella, in his Moral Sum, says, that that 
is a sacred thing too. Now it is certain among them, 
that no priest can receive money for absolution, 
directly or indirectly. Those then that take it, rob 
that money which is unlawfully taken from the 
penitent ; and it is a sacrilege too, because they take 
a sacred thing for a sacred thing, viz. : the sacred 
money for masses taken for absolution. They take 
that sacred thing in a sacred place, viz. : in the 
sacred tribunal of conscience : and they take a 
sacred thmg out of a sacred place, viz. : the church 
Again : Though most commonly, Quodcumque 
ligaveris super terram ; erit ligatum et in coelis, is 
understood by them literally, and the pope usurps 
the power of absolving men without contrition, 
provided they have attrition, or only confession by 
mouth, as we shall see in the following chapter of 
the popes's bull. Nevertheless the casuists, when 
they come to treat of a perfect confession under the 
sacrament of penance, they unanimously say, that 
three things are absolutely necessary to a perfect con- 
fession, and to salvation too, viz. : Oris confessioy 
cordis contritio, and operis satisf actio. Though at 



POPISH CHURCH. Ill 

the same time they say, except in case of pontifical 
dispensation with faculties, privileges, indulgences, 
and pardon of all sins committed by a man : But 
though they except this case, I am sure they do it 
out of obedience, and flattery, rather than your own 
belief. If they then believe, that without contrition 
of heart, the absolution is of no efiect, why do they 
persuade the contrary to the penitent ? Why do 
they take money for absolution ? It is, then, a cheat, 
robbery, and sacrilege. 

Secondly. I say, that the confessors [generally 
speaking] are the the occassion of the ruin of many 
families, of many thefts, debaucheries, murders, and 
divisions among several families [for which they 
must answer before that dreadful tribunal of God, 
when and where all the secret practices and wicked- 
ness shall be disclosed] ; add to this, that by auricular 
confession, they are acquainted with the tempers and 
inclinations of people, which contribute very much 
to heap up riches, and to make themselves com- 
manding masters of all sorts of persons ; for when a 
confessor is thoroughly acquainted with a man's 
temper and natural inclinations, it is the most easy 
thing in the world to bring him to his own opinion, 
and to be master over him and his substance. 

That the confessors, commonly speaking, are the 
occasion of all the aforesaid mischiefs, will appear by 
the following observations : 

First, They get the best estates from the rich peo^ 
pie, for the use and benefit of their communities, by 
which many and many private persons, and whole 



112 HISTORY OF THE 

families, are reduced and ruined. Obseve now their 
practices as to sick. If a nobleman of a good estate 
be very ill, the confessor must be by him night and 
day ; and when he goes to sleep, his companion sup- 
plies his place, to direct, and exhort the s'ck to die 
as a good christian, and to advise him how to make 
his last will and testament. If the confessor is a 
down-right honest man, he must betray his principles 
of honesty, or disoblige his superior, and all the com- 
munity, by getting nothing from the sick ; so he 
chargeth upon the poor man's conscience, to leave 
his convent thousands of masses; for the speedy 
delivery of his soul out of purgatory ; and besides 
that, to settle a yearly mass forever upon the convent 
and to leave a voluntary gift, that the friars may 
remember him in their public and private prayers, 
as a benefactor of that community : And in these 
and other legacies and charities, three parts of his 
estate go to the church, or convents. But if the 
confessor have a large conscience, then without any 
christian consideration for the sick man's family and 
poor relations, he makes use of all the means an 
inhuman, covetous man can invent, to get the whole 
estate for his convent. And this is the reason why 
they are so rich, and so many families so poor, 
reduced, and ruined. 

From these we may infer thefts, murders, de- 
baucheries, and divisons of families. I say, the 
confessors are the original causes of all these ill con- 
sequences; for when they take the best of estates 
for themselves, no wonder if private persons and 



POPISHCHURCH. 113 

whole families are left in such want, and neces- 
sity, that they abandon themselves to all sorts of sins, 
and hazards of losmg both lives and honors, rather 
than to abate somethmg of their pride. 

I might prove this by several instances, which I 
do not question, are very well Iniown by several 
curious people : and though some malicious persons 
are apt to suspect that such instances are mere 
dreams, or forgeries of envious people ; for my part 
I believe, that many confessors are the original cause 
of the aforesaid evils, as may be seen by the follow- 
ing matter of fact : 

In the account of the Jesuits and their practices, I 
said that the reverend Navasques was the confessor 
of the countess of Fuentes, who was left a widow at 
twenty-four years of age, and never married again : 
for the reverend's care is to advise them to Hve a 
single life. (Purity bemg the first step to heaven.) 
The lady countess had no children, and had an estate 
of her own, of 4000 pistoles a year, besides her 
jewels and household goods, which, after her death, 
were valued at 15,000 pistoles. All these things and 
her personal estate, were left to the Jesuit's college, 
though she had many near relations, among whom I 
knew two yomig gentlemen, second cousins of her 
ladyship, and two yoimg ladies kept in the house as 
her cousins too. She had promised to give them a 
settlement suitable to their quality and merits; 
which promise the father confessor confirmed to 
them several times. But the lady died, and both the 
young ladies and the two gentlemen were left under 

15 



114 HISTORY OF THE 

the providence of God, for the countess had forgotten 
them in her last will ; and the father confessor took 
no notice of them afterward. The two young ladies 
abandoned themselves to all manner of private 
pleasures at first, and at last to public wickedness. 
As to the young gentlemen, in a few months after 
the lady's death, one left the city and went to serve 
the king, as a cadet : the other following a licentious 
life, was ready to finish his days with shame and 
dishonor upon a public scafibld, had not the goodness 
and compassion of the marquis of Camarrassa, then 
viceroy of Aragon, prevented it. Now, whether 
the father confessor shall be answerable before God, 
for all the sins committed by the young ladies, and 
one of the gentlemen, for want of what they expected 
from the countess, or not ? God only knows. We 
may think and believe, that if the lady had provided 
for them according to their condition in the world, in 
all human probability they had not committed such 
sins. Or if the college, or the reverend father had 
been more charitable, and compassionate to the con- 
dition they were left in, they had put a timely stop 
to their wickedness. 

Thirdly. I say that confessors and preachers are 
the occasion, that many thousands of young men and 
women choose a single, retired life, in a monastery 
or convent ; and therefore are the cause of many 
families being extinguished, and their own treasure 
exceedingly increased. 

If a gentleman have two or three sons, and as 
many daughters, the confessor of the family adviseth 



POPISH CHURCH. 115 

the father to keep the eldest son at home, and send 
the rest, both sons and daughters, into a convent or 
monastery ; praising the monastical life., and saying, 
;that to be retired from the world, is the safest way 
to heaven. There is a proverb which runs thus in 
English : It is better to he alone, than in had 
company. And the confessors alter it thus : It is 
better to he alone, than in good company ; which 
they pretend to prove with so many sophistical argu- 
ments, nay, with a passage from the Scirpture ; and 
this not only in private conversation, but publicly in 
the pulpit. I remember, I heard my celebrated Mr. 
F. James Garcia preach a sermon upon the subject 
of a retired life and solitude, which sermon and 
others preached by him in lent, in the cathedral 
church of St. Salvator, were printed afterwards. 
The book is in folio, and its title Quadragesima de 
Gracia. He was the first preacher I heard make use 
of the above proverb, and alter it in the aforesaid 
way ; and to prove the sense of his alteration he 
said : Reinem^her the woman in the apocalypis, that 
ran from heaven into the desert. What ! was not 
that woman in heaven, in the company of the 
stars and planets, by which are represented all the 
heavenly spirits ? Why then quits she that good 
company, and chooses to be alone in a desert place ? 
Because, said he, that woman is the holy soul, 
and for a soul that desireth to be holy ; it is 
better to be alone than in good company. In 
the desert, in the convent, in the monastery, the 
soul is safe, free from sundry temptations of the 



116 HISTORY OP THE 

world ; and so it belongs to a christian soul, not 
only to run from bad company, but to quit the best 
company in the world and retire into the desert of a 
convent, or monastery, if that soul desire to be holy 
and pure ; this was his proof, and if he had not been 
my master, I would have been bold to make some 
reflections upon it. But the respect of a disciple, 
beloved by him, is enough to make me silent, and 
leave to the reader the satisfaction of reflecting in his 
own way, to which I heartily submit. 

These, I say, are the advices the confessors give to 
the fathers of families, who, glad of lessening the 
expences of the house, and of seeing their children 
provided for, send them into the desert place of a 
convent, which is really in the middle of the world. 
Now observe, that it is twenty to one, that their heir 
dies before he marries and has children : so the 
estate and every thing else fall to the second, who is 
a professed friar or nun, and as they cannot use the 
expression of meum or tuum, all goes that way to 
the community. And this is the reason why many 
families are extinguished, and their names quite out 
of memory : the convent so crowded, the kingdom so 
thin of people ; and the friars, nuns, and monasteries 
so rich. 

Fourthly. I say that the confessors, priests, and 
especially friars, make good this saying among the 
common people : Frayle ofraude es todo uno; i. e. 
friar or fraud is the same thing ; for they not only 
defraud whole families, but make use of barbarous, 
inhuman means to get the estates of many rich 
persons. 



POPISH CHURCH. 117 

The Marquis of Arino had one only daughter, and 
his second brother was an Augustan friar, under 
whose care the marquis left his daughter when he 
died. She was fifteen years of age, rich and hand- 
some. Her uncle and executor was at that time 
doctor and professor of divinity in the university, and 
prior of the convent, and could not personally take 
care of his neice and her family ; so he desired one 
of her aunts to go and live with her, and sent another 
friar to be like a steward and overseer of the house. 
The uncle was a good honest man and mighty 
religious. He minded more his office of prior, his 
study and exercises of devotion, than the riches, 
pomp, magnificence and vanity of the world ; so, 
seeing that the discharge of his duty and that of an 
executor of his neice were inconsistent together, he 
did resolve to marry her ; which he did to the baron 
Suelves, a young, handsome, healthy, rich gentleman ; 
but he died seven months after his marriage, so the 
good uncle was again at the same trouble and care 
of his neice, who was left a widow, but without child- 
ren. After the year of her mourning was expired, 
she was married to the great president of the council, 
who was afterwards great chancellor of the kingdom, 
but he died, leaving no children. The first and 
second husband left all their estates to her ; and she 
was reckoned to have eighty thousand pistoles in 
yearly rent and goods. A year after, Don Pedro 
Carillo, brigadier-general, and general govenor of 
the kingdom, married her, but has no children by her. 
I left both the govenor and the lady alive, when I 



118 HISTORY OF THE 

quitted the country. Now I come to the point. It 
was specified in all the matches between the gentle- 
men and the lady, that if they had no issue by her, 
all the estate and goods should fall to the uncle as a 
second brother of her father ; and so ex necessitate 
the convent should be forever the only enjoyer of it. 
It was found out, but too late, that the friar steward, 
before she first married, had given her a dose to 
make her a barren woman ; and though nobody did 
beUeve that the uncle had any hand in it, (so great 
an opinion the world and the lady's husband had of 
him,) every body did suspect at first tha friar 
steward, and so it was confirmed at last by his own 
confession ; for being at the point of death, he owned 
the fact publicly and his design in it. 

Another instance. A lady of the first rank, of 
eighteen years of age, the only heiress of a con- 
siderable estate, was kept by her parents at a dis- 
tance from all sorts of company, except only that of 
the confessor of the family, who was a learned and 
devout man ; but as these reverends have always a 
father companion to assist them at home and abroad, 
many times the mischief is contrived and efiected 
unknown to the confessor, by his wicked companion; 
so it happened in this instance. The fame of the 
wonderful beauty of this young lady was spread so 
far abroad, that the king and queen being in the city 
for eight months together, and not seeing the cele- 
brated beauty at their court, her majesty asked her 
father one day, whether he had any children ? And 
when he answered, that he "had only one daughter, 



POPISH CHURCH. 119 

he was desired by the queen to bring her along with 
him to court, the next day, for she had a great desire 
to see her beauty so much admired at home and 
abroad. The father could not refuse it, and so the 
next day the lady did appear at court, and was so 
much admired that a grandee (who had then the 
command of the army, though not of his own pas- 
sions) said, this is the first time I see the sun among 
the stars. The grandee began to covet that inesti- 
mable jewel, and his heart burning in the agreeable 
flame of her eyes, he went to see her father, but 
could not see the daughter. At last, all his endeavors 
being in vain, for he was married, he sent for the 
confessor's companion, whose interest and mediation 
he got by money and fair promises of raising him to 
an exclesiastical dignity ; so by that means he sent 
a letter to the lady, who read it, and in very few 
days he got her consent to disguise himself and come 
to see her along with the father companion ; so one 
evening in the dark, putting on a friar'^s habit, he 
went to her chamber, where he was always in 
company with the companion friar, who by crafty 
persuasions made the lady understand, that if she 
did not consent to every thing that the grandee 
should desire, her life and reputation were lost, &c. 
In the same disguise they saw one another several 
times to the grandee's satisfaction, and her grief and 
vexation. 

But the court being gone, the young lady began to 
suspect some public proof of her intrigue, till then 
secret, and consulting the father companion upon it. 



120 HISTORYOFTHE 

he did what he could to prevent it, but in vain. The 
misfortune was suspected, and owned by her to her 
parents. The father died of grief in eight days time : 
and the mother went into the country with her 
daughter, till she was free from, her disease, and 
afterwards, both ladies, mother and daughter, retired 
into a monastery, where I knew and conversed 
several times with them. The gentleman had made 
his will long before, by which the convent Avas to 
get the estate in case the lady should die without 
children ; and as she had taken the habit of a nun, 
and professed the vows of religion, the prior was so 
ambitious that he asked the estate, alleging, that she 
being a professed nun, could have no children ; to 
which the lady replied, that she was obliged to obey 
her father's will, by which she was mistress of the 
estate during her life ; adding that it was better for 
the father prior not to insist on his demand; for she 
was ruined in her reputation by the wickedness of 
one of his friars, and that she if pressed, would show 
her own child, who was the only heir of her father's 
estate. But the prior, deaf to her threatenings, did 
carry on his pretentions, and by an agreement, (not 
to make the thing more public than it was, for very 
few knew the true story,) the prior got the estate, 
obliging the convent to give the lady and her mother, 
during their lives, 400 pistoles every year, the whole 
estate being 5000 yearly rent. 

I could give several more instances of this nature 
to convince that the confessors, priests, and friars are 
the fimdamental original cause of almost all the 



POPISH CHURCH. 121 

misdoings and mischiefs that happen in the famihes. 
By the instances already given every body may 
easily know the secret practices of some of the 
Romish priests, which are an abomination to the 
Lord, especially in the holy tribunal of confession. 
So I may conclude and dismiss this first chapter, 
saying, that the confession is the mint of friars and 
priests, the sins of the penitent the metals, the abso- 
lution the coin of money, and the confessors the 
keepers of it. Now the reader may draw from these 
accounts as many inferences as he pleases, till, God 
willing, I furnish him with new arguments, and 
instances, of their evil practices in the second part of 
this work. 



16 



PART II. 

*niis is a true cojpy of the Pope's Bull ou* of Spanish, in the 
translation of whi(^ into English, I am tied up to the 
letter almost word for word, and this is to preve nt (as to this 
point) all calumny and objection, which may be made against 
it, by some cdtic among the Roman-Catholics. 

MDCCXVIIL 

Bull of the holy ^crusade, granted hy the holmess 
of our most holy father Clement, the Xlth, to the 
kingdoms of Spain, and the isles to them pertaining, in 
favor of all of them, that should help and serve the 
king Dn. Philip V. our lord, in the war and expenses 
of it, which he doth make against the enemies of our 
catholic faith, with great indulgences and pardons, 
for the year one thousand seven hundred and 
eighteen. 

The prophet Joel, sorry for the damages which the 
sons of Israel did endure by the invasion of the 
Chaldean armies, (zealous, for and desirous of their 
defence, after having recommended to them the 
observance of the law) calling the soldiers to the war, 
saith : That he saw, for the comfort of all, a mystical 
spring come out from God and his house, which did 
water and wash away the sins of that people. Chap. 
3, v. 18. 

Seeing then our most holy father, Clement XI, (who 
at this day doth rule, and govern the holy apostolical 



124 HISTORYOPTHE 

see) for the zeal of the cathohc king of the Spains, 
Dn. Philip, the Vth, for the defence of our holy faith, 
and for that purpose gathereth together, and main- 
taineth his armies against all the enemies of Christi- 
anity, to help him in his holy enterprise, doth grant 
him this bull, by which his holiness openeth the 
springs of the blood of Christ, and the treasure of his 
inestimable merits ; and with it encourageth all the 
christians to the assistance of this undertaking. For 
this purpose, and that they might enjoy this benefit ; 
he orders to be published the following indulgences, 
graces, and faculties, or privileges. 

1. His holiness doth grant to all the true christians 
of the said kingdom and dominions, dwellers, and 
settled, and inhabitants in them, and to all comers to 
them, or should be found in them ; who, moved with 
the zeal of promoting the holy catholic faith, should 
go personally, and upon their own expenses, to the 
war in the army, and with the forces which his 
majesty sendeth, for the time of one year, to fight 
against the Turks, and other infidels, or to do any 
other service, as, to help personally in the same army, 
continuing in it the whole year. To all these his 
holiness doth grant a free and full indulgence, and 
pardon of all their sins, (if they have a perfect con- 
trition, or, if they confess them by mouth, and if they 
cannot, if they have a hearty desire of it) which hath 
been used to be granted to them that to go to the con- 
quest of the holy land, and in the year of Jubilee : and 
declares that all they, that should die before the end 
of the expedition, or in the way, as they are going 



POPISH CHURCH. 125 

to the army before the expedition, should likewise 
enjoy and obtain the said pardon and indulgence. 

He granteth also the same to them, who, (though 
they do not go personally) should send another upon 
their own expenses in this manner, viz : If he that 
sends another is a cardinal, primate, patriarch, arch- 
bishop, bishop, son of a king, prince, duke, marquis, 
or earl, then he must send as many as he can 
possibly send, till ten ; and if he cannot send ten, he 
must send at least four soldiers. All other persons 
of what condition soever they may be, must send 
one, in such a case, two or three, or four, may join 
and contribute, every one according to his abilities, 
and send one soldier. 

2. Item. The chapters, * all churches, monasteries 
of friars and nuns, without expecting mendicant 
orders, if ten, with the consent of the chapter or 
community, do join to send one soldier, they do enjoy 
the said indulgence ; and not they only, but the 
person too, sent by them, if he be poor. 

3. Item. The secular priests, who, with the 
consent of their diocesan and the friars of their 
superiors, should preach the word of God in the said 
army, or should perform any other ecclesiastical and 
pious office, (which is declared to be lawful for them, 
without incurring irregularity) are empowered to 
serve their benefices, by meet and fit tenants, having 
not the cure of souls ; for if they have, they cannot 
without his holiness' consent. And it is declared, 
that the soldiers employed in this war are not obliged 
to fast the days appointed and commanded by the 



126 HISTORY OF THE 

church, and which they should be obHged to fast on, 
if they were not in the war. 

4. Item. His hoUness grants (not only to the 
soldiers, but to all them too, who, though they should 
not go, should encourage this holy work with the 
charity undermentioned) all the indulgences, graces, 
and privileges in this bull contained, and this for a 
whole year, reckoning from the publishing of it in 
any place whatsoever, viz. : that (yet, in the time of 
apostolical, or ordinary interdictum, i. e. suspension 
of all ecclesiastical and divine service) they may hear 
mass either in the churches and monasteries, or in 
the private oratories marked and visited by the 
diocesan ; and if they were priests, to say mass and 
other divine offices ; or if they were not, to make 
others to celebrate mass before them, their familiar 
friends and relations, to recieve the holy sacrament 
of the Lord's supper and the other sacraments, except 
on Easter Sunday, provided, that they have not 
given occasion for the said interdictum, nor hindered 
the taking of it : Provided likewise, that every time 
they make use of such oratory, they should, according 
to their devotion, pray for the union and concord 
among all Christian princes, the rooting out of 
heresies, and victory over the infidels. 

5. Item. His holiness granteth, that in time of 
interdictum, their corpse may be buried in sacred 
ground, with a moderate funeral pomp. 

6. Item. He grants to all, that should take this 
bull, that during the year, by the council of both 
spiritual and corporal physicians, they may eat flesh 



POPISH CHURCH. 127 

in Lent, and several other days in which it is pro- 
hibited : And Ukewise, that they may freely eat 
eggs and things with milk ; and that all these, who 
should eat no flesh (keeping the form of the ecclesi- 
astical fast,) do fulfil the precept of fasting : And in 
this privilege of eating eggs, &c., are not comprised 
the ^patriarchs, primates, archbishops, bishops, nor 
other inferior prelates, nor any person whatsoever of 
the regulars^ nor of the secular priests, (the days only 
of lent,) notwithstanding from the mentioned persons, 
we except all those that are sixty years of age, and 
all the knights of the military orders, who freely may 
eat eggs, &c., and enjoy the said privilege. 

7. Item. The abovenamed, that should not go, 
nor send any soldier to this holy war, out of their 
own substance, (if they should help to it, keeping a 
fast for devotion's sake, in some days, which are of 
no precept, and praying and imploring the help of 
God, for the victory against the infidels, and his 
grace, for the union among the Christian princes,) as 
many times as they should do it, during the year, so 
many times it is granted them, and graciously 
forgiven fifteen years, and fifteen quarantains of 
pardon, and all the penances imposed on them, and 
in whatever manner due ; also that they be partakers 
of all the prayers, alms and pilgrimages of Jerusalem, 
and all the good works which should be done in the 
universal militant church, and in each of its members. 

8. Item. To all those, who in the days of lent 
and other days of the year, in which* estations are 
at Rome, should visit five churches, or five altars. 



128 HISTORYOFTHE * 

and if there is not five churches, or five altars, five 
times should visit one church, or one altar, praying 
for the victory, and union above mentioned, his holi- 
ness granteth that they should enjoy and obtain the 
indulgences and pardons, which all these do enjoy 
and obtain, that personal visit the churches of the 
city of Rome, and without the walls of it, as well as 
if they did visit personally the said churches. 

9. Item. To the intent that the s^me persons 
with more purity, and cleanness of their consciences, 
might pray, his holiness grants, that they might 
choose for their confessor any secular or regular 
priest licensed by the diocesan, to whom power is 
granted to absolve them of all sins and censures 
whatsoever, [though they be reserved to the apos- 
tolical see, and specified in the bull of the Lord's 
supper, except of the crime heresy,] and that they 
should enjoy free and full indulgence and pardon of 
them all. But of the sins not reserved to the apos- 
tolical see, they may be absolved toties quoties, i. e. 
as many times as they do confess them, and perform 
salutary penance : And if to be absolved, there be 
need of restitution, they might make it themselves, 
or by their heirs, if they have any impediment to 
make it themselves. Likewise the said confessor 
shall have power to communicate or change any vow 
whatsoever, though made with an oath, (excepting 
the vow of chastity, religion, and beyond seas) but 
this is, upon giving for charity what they should 
think fit, for the benefit of the holy crusade. 

10. Item. That if, during the said year they 



POPISH CHURCH. 129 

should happen, by sudden death or by the absence 
of then- confessor, to die without confessing their 
sins ; if they die hearty penitents ; and in the time 
appointed by the church, had confessed and have not 
been negligent or careless in confidence of this grace, 
it is granted, that they should obtain the said free 
and full indulgence and pardon of all their sins ; and 
their corpse might be buried in ecclesiastical burying 
place, (if they did not die excommunicated,) notwith- 
standing the interdictum. 

11. Likewise his holiness hath granted by his 
particular brief, to all the faithful Christians, that 
take the bull twice a year, that they might once 
more, during their lives, and once more at the point 
of death, (besides what is said above,) be absolved 
of all the sins, crimes, excesses of what nature 
soever, censures, sentences of excommunication, 
though comprised in the bull of the Lord^s supper, 
and though the absolution of them be reserved to 
his holiness, (except the crime and oifence of heresy,) 
and that they might twice more enjoy all the graces, 
indulgences, faculties and pardons granted in this 
bull. 

12. And his holiness gives power and authority to 
us Don Francis Anthony Ramirez de la Piscina, 
archdeacon of Alcarraz, prebendary and canon of the 
holy church of Toledo, primate of the Spains, of his 
majesty's council, apostolic, general commissary of 
the holy crusada, and all other graces in all the 
kingdoms and dominions of Spain, to suspend (during 
the year of the pubHshing of this bull) all the graces, 

17 



130 HISTORYOFTHE 

indulgences, and faculties, granted to the said king- 
doms, dominions, isles, provinces, to whatever 
churches, monasteries, hospitals, brotherhoods, pious 
places, and to particular persons, though the granting 
of them did contain words contrary to this suspension. 

1 3. Likewise he gives us power to reinforce and 
make good again the same graces and faculties, and 
all others whatsoever ; and he gives us and our 
deputies, power to suspend the interdictum in what- 
ever place this bull should be preached ; and likewise 
to fix and determine the quantum of the contribution 
the people is to give for this bull, according to the 
abilities and quality of persons. 

14. And we the said apostolic general commissary 
of the holy crusada, (in favor of this holy bull, by 
the apostolical authority granted to us, and that so 
holy a word do not cease nor be hindered by any 
other indulgence,) do suspend, during the year, all 
the graces, indulgences and faculties, of this or any 
other kind, granted by his holiness, or by other popes 
his predecessors, or by the holy apostolical see, or by 
his authority, to all the kingdoms of his majesty, to 
all churches, monasteries, hospitals and other pious 
places, universities, brotherhoods, and secular per- 
sons ; though the said graces and faculties be in 
favor of the building of St. Peter's church ta Rome, 
or of any crusada, though all and every one of them 
should contain words contrary to this suspension : 
So that, during the year, no person shall obtain, or 
enjoy any other graces, indulgences or faculties 
whatsoever, nor can be published, except only the 



POPISH CHURCH. 131 

privileges granted to the superiors of the mendicant 
orders, as to their friars. 

15. And in favor of this bull, and by the said 
apostolical authority we declare, that all those that 
would take this bull, might obtain, and enjoy all the 
graces, faculties and indulgences, jubilees and par- 
dons, which have been granted by our holy fathers, 
Paul the Vth, and Urbannus the Vlllth, and by 
other popes of happy memory, and by the holy 
apostolical see, or by its authority, mentioned and 
comprised in the said suspension, and which, by the 
apostolical commission, we reinforce and make good 
again ; and by the same authority do suspend the 
interdictum for eight days before and after publishing 
this bull, in any place whatsoever (as it is contained 
in his holiness's brief) : And we command that 
every body, that would take this bull, be obliged to 
keep by him the same which is here printed, signed 
and sealed with our name and seal, and that other- 
wise they cannot obtain, nor enjoy the benefit of the 
said bull. 

16. And whereas you (Peter de Zuloaga) have 
given two reales de plata, which is the charity fixed 
by us, and have taken this bull, and your name is 
written in it, we do declare, that you have already 
obtained, and are granted the said indulgences, and 
that you may enjoy and make use of them in the 
abovementioned form. Given at Madrid, the 
eighteenth day of March, one thousand seven hun- 
dred and eighteen. 



132 HISTORY OP THE 

Form of absolution, which, by virtue of this bull, may be given 
to all those that take the bull once in their life time, and once 
upon the point of death. 

Misereatur tui Omnipotens Deus, &c. By the 
authority of God and his holy apostles St. Peter and 
St. Paul, and our most holy father (N.) to you 
especially granted and to be committed, I absolve 
you from all censure of the greater or lesser excom- 
munication, suspension, interdictum, and from all 
other censures and pains, or punishments, which 
they have incurred and deserved, though the absolu- 
tion of them be reserved to the apostolic see, (as by 
the same is granted to you.) And I bring you again 
into the union and communion of the faithful Chris- 
tians : And also I absolve you from all the sins, 
crimes, and excesses, which you have now here 
confessed, and from those which you would confess, 
if you did remember them, though they be so ex 
ceeding great, that the absolution of them be reserved 
to the apostolical see ; and I do grant you free and 
full indulgence, and pardon of all your sins now and 
whenever confessed, forgotten, and out of your mind, 
and of all the pains and punishments which you 
were obliged to endure for them in purgatory. In 
the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost. — Amen. 



POPISH CHURCH. 133 



Brief, or sum of the estations and indulgences of Rome, which 
his holiness grants to all those that would take and fulfil the 
contents of this bull. 

The first day in St. Sabine, free and full indulgence. 
Thursday in St. George, do. 

Friday in St. John and St. Paul, do. 

Saturday in St. Griffon, do. 

First Sunday in Lent, in St. John St. Paul, do. 
Monday in St. Peter ad Vincula, do. 

Tuesday in St. Anastasie, do. 

*And this day every body takes a soul out of 
purgatory. 

Wednesday in St. Mary, the greater, free and full 
indulgence. 

Thursday in St. Laurence Panispema, do. 
Friday in the saints, apostles, do. 

Saturday in St. Peter, do. 

Second Sunday in lent, in St. Mary, of Na- 
vicula, and St. Mary, the greater, do. 

Monday in St. Clement, do. 

Tuesday in St. Balbine, do. 

Wednesday in St. Cicile, do. 

Thursday in St. Marytranstiber, do. 

Friday in St. Vidal, do. 

Saturday in St. Peter and St. Marcelin, do. 
*And this day every body takes one soul out of 
purgatory. 

Third Sunday in lent in St. Laurence, 
extra Muros, free and full indulgence. 



134 HISTORYOPTHE 

*And this day every body takes one soul out of 

purgatory. 
Monday in St. Mark, free and full indulgence. 
Tuesday in St. Potenciane, do. 

Wednesday in St. Sixte, do. 

Thursday in St. Cosme, and St. Damian, 

the image of our lady of Populi and 

Pacis, is shown. do. 

Friday in St. Laurence in Lucina, do. 

Saturday in St. Susane, and St. Mary of 

the angels. 
Fourth Sunday in lent in St. Crosse of 

Jerusalem, do. 

*This day every body takes one soul out 

of purgatory. 
Monday in the 4-crowned free and full 

indulgences. 
Tuesday in St. Laurence in Damascus, do. 
Wednesday in St. Peter, do. 

Thursday in St. Silvastre and in St. Mary 

in the mountains. do. 

Friday in St. Usebe, do. 

Saturday in St. Nicholas in prison, do. 

Fifth Sunday in lent in St. Peter, do. 

Monday in St. Crissone, free and full indulgence. 
Tuesday in St. Quirce, do. 

Wednesday in St Marcelle do. 

Thursday in St. Appollinaris do. 

Friday in St. Estephan, do. 

*This day every body takes one soul out 

gurgatory. 



POPISH CHURCH. 135 

Saturday in St. John ante Portam Latinam, free and 
full indulgence. 
*And this day every one takes a soul out 
purgatory. 
Sixth Sunday in lent in St. John de Leteran, 
full and free indulgence. 
Monday in St. Praxedis, do. » 

Tuesday in St. Priske, do. 

Wednesday in St. Mary the greater do. 
Thursday in St. John de Leteran, do. 

Friday in St. Crosse of Jerusalem, and in 

St. Mary of the angels, do. 

Saturday in St. John de Leteran, do. 

Easter Sunday in St. Mary the greater, do. 
Monday in St. Peter. do. 

Tuesday in St. Paul, do. 

Wednesday in St. Laurence extra muros, do. 
*This day every body takes a soul out of 

purgatory. 
Thursday in the saints apostles, free and full in- 
dulgence. 
Friday in St. Mary Rotunda, do. 

Saturday in St. John Deleteran, do. 

Sunday after Easter in St. Pancracy, do. 
ESTATIONS AFTER EASTER. 
In the greater litanies : St. Mark's day ; in 
St. Peter. do. 

Ascension-day in St. Peter, do. 

Whitesunday in St. John de Leteran, do. 
Monday in St. Peter, do. 

Tuesday in St. Anastasie, do. 



136 HISTORY OP THE 

Wednesday in St. Mary the greater, do. 

Thursday in St. Laurence, extra muros, do. 

*This day every body takes a soul out of 
purgatory. 

Friday in the saints apostles, free and full indul- 
gence. 

Saturday in St. Peter, do. 

ESTATIONS IN ADVENT. 

First Sunday in St. Mary the greater, do. 
And in the same church all the holy days 
of our lady, do. 

Second Sunday in St. Crosse of Jerusalem, 
free and full indulgence. 
The same day in St. Mary of the angels, do. 
Third Sunday in St. Peter, do. 

Wednesday of the four rogations, in St. 

Mary the greater, 
Friday in the saints apostles, do. 

Saturday in St. Peter, do. 

Fourth Sunday in the saints apostles, do. 

CHRISTMAS NIGHT. 

At the first mass in St. Mary the greater, 

in the Manger's chapel, do. 

At the second mass St. Anast^sie, do. 

CHRISTMAS DAY. 

At the third mass in St. Mary the greater do. 

Monday in St. Mary Rotunda, do. 

Tuesday in St. Mary the greater, do. 

The innocent's day in St. Paul, do. 



POPISH CHURCH. 137 

The circumcision of Christ in St. Mary Transtiber, 
The Epiphany in St. Peter, do. 

Dominica in Septuag. in St. Laurence, extra muros, 
*This day every body takes a soul out of 
purgatory. 
Dominica in Sexag. in St. Paul, free and 

full indulgence. 
Dominica in Quinquag. in St. Peter, do. 

And because every day in the year, there is esta- 
tions at Rome, with great indulgences, therefore it is 
granted to all those that take this bull, the same 
indulgences and pardons every day which are granted 
at Rome. 
Don Francis Anthony Ramiret, de la Pisoina. 

Explanation of this bull, and remark upon it. 
BULL OF CRUSADE. 
A pope's brief, granting the sign of the cross to 
those that take it. All that a foreigner can learn in 
the dictionaries, as to this word, is the above account ; 
therefore I ought to tell you that are foreigners, that 
the word crusada was a grant of the cross ; i. e. that 
when the king of Spain makes war against the 
Turks and infidels, his coat of arms, and the motto of 
his colors, is the cross, by which all the soldiers 
understand such a war is an holy war, and that the 
army of the king, having in its standard the sign of 
the cross, hath a great advantage over the enemy ^ 
for, as they do believe, if they die in such a war, 
their souls go straight to heaven ; and to confirm 
them in this opinion, the pope grants them this bull, 

IS 



138 HISTORYOFTHE 

signed with the sign of the cross, so many indulgences 
as you have read in it. 

Again, crus, or cross, is the only distinguishing 
character of those that follow the colors of Jesus 
Christ, from whence crusada is derived, that is to say, 
a brief of indulgences and privileges of the cross 
granted to all those that serve in the war for the 
defence of the christian faith against all its enemies 
whatsoever. 

This bull is granted by the pope every year to the 
king of Spain, and all his subjects, by which the king 
increases his treasure, and the pope takes no small 
share of it. The excessive sums of money, which 
the bull brings in to the king and pope, every body 
may easily Imow, by the account I am going to give 
of it. 

It is an inviolable custom in Spain, every year, 
after Christmas, to have this bull published in every 
city, town and borough, which is always done in the 
following manner : 

The general commissary of the holy crusada most 
commonly resides at Madrid, from whence he sends 
to his deputies in every kingdom or province, the 
printed bulls they want in their respective jurisdic- 
tions. This bull being published at Madrid by the 
general commissary or his deputy, which is always 
done by a famous preacher, after the gospel is sung 
in the high mass, and in a sermon which he preaches 
upon this subject. After this is done at Madrid, 
(I say,) all the deputies of the holy crusada send from 
the capital city, where they reside, friars with a 



POPISH CHURCH. 1 39 

petit commissary to every town and village, to 
preach and publish the bull. Every preacher has 
his own circuit, and a certain number of towns and 
villages to publish it in, and making use of the 
privileges mentioned in the bull, he in his sermon 
persuades the people that nobody can be saved that 
year without it, which they do and say every year 
again. 

The petit commissary, for his trouble, has half a 
real of eight, i. e. two and fourpence a day ; and the 
preacher, according to the extent of the circuit, has 
twenty or thirty crowns for the whole journey, and 
both are well entertained in every place. 

Every soul from seven years of age and upwards, 
is obliged to take a bull, and pay two reals of plate, 
i. e. thirteen pence three farthings of this money ; 
and one part out of three of the living persons take 
two or three, according to their families and abilities. 
The regular priests are obliged to take three times 
every year the bull, for which they pay two reals of 
plate : In the beginning of lent another which they 
call, bull of lacticinous, i. e. bull to eat eggs, and 
things of milk, without which they cannot : And 
another in the holy week. For the bull of lacticinous 
they pay four and ninepence, and the same for the 
bull of the holy week ; the friars and nuns do the 
same. Now, if you consider the number of ecclesi- 
astics and nuns and all the living souls from seven 
years of age and upwards, you may easily know 
what vast sums of money the king gets in his 
dominions by this yearly brief, of which the third 
part or better goes to Rome one way or other. 



140 HtS'TORY Ot THE 

Add to this the bull of the dead. This is another 
sort of bull ; for the pope grants in it pardon of sinSy 
and salvation to them who, before they die, or after 
their death, their relations for them take this bull of 
defunctorum. The custom of taking this bull is 
become a law, and a very rigorous law in their 
church ; for nobody can be buried, either in the 
church, or in the church-yard, without having this 
bull upon their breasts, which (as they say) is a token 
and signal that they were Christians in their lives, 
and after death they are in the way of salvation. 

So many poor people, either beggars or strangers, 
or those that die in the hospitals, could not be buried 
without the help of the well-disposed people, who 
bestow their charities for the use of taking bulls of 
the dead, that the poor destitute people might have 
the benefit of a consecrated burying-place. The sum 
for this bull is two reals of plate, and whatever 
money is gathered together in the whole year goes 
to the Pope, or (as they say) to the treasure of the 
church. Now I leave to every body's consideration, 
how many persons die in a year, in so vast dominions 
as those of the king of Spain, by which, in this point, 
the Pope's benefit, or the treasure of the church, may 
be nearly known. 

stupid, blind, ignorant people ! Of what use or 
benefit is this bull after death ? Hear what St. John 
tells you, Happy are they that die in the Lord. It 
is certain that all those that die in the grace of the 
Lord, heartily penitent, and sorry for their sins, go 
immediately to enjoy the ravishing pleasures of 



POPISH CHURCH. 141 

eternal life ; and those that die in sin, go to suffer 
forever in the dark place of torment. And this 
happens to our souls the very instant of their separa- 
tion from their bodies. Let every body make use of 
their natural reason, and read impartially the Scrip- 
ture, and he will find it to be so, or else he will 
believe it to be so. Then if it is so, they ought to 
consider, that when they take this bull (which is 
commonly a little before they carry the corpse) into 
the church, the judgment of God, as to the soul, is 
over, (for in the twinkling of an eye he may lay the 
charges and pass the sentence) — at that time the soul 
is either in heaven, or hell. What then doth the bull 
signify to them ? But of this I shall speak in another 
place. And now I come to the explanation of the 
bull, and the remarks upon it. 

This bull I am speaking of was granted five years 
ago to the faithful people of Spain, by the late pope, 
and which a gentleman of the army took accidentally 
from a master of a ship out of Biscay, whose name 
is Peter de Zoloaga, as it is signed by himself in the 
same bull, and may be seen at the publishers. I 
have said already that a bull is every year granted 
to the king of Spain, by the pope in being, who either 
for the sake of money, or for fear, doth not scruple 
at all to grant quite contrary bulls, to two kings at 
the same time reigning in Spain. Now I crave leave 
to vmdicate my present saying. 

When the present king of Spain, Philip the Vth, 
went there and was crowned, both the arms spiritual 
and temporal, representatives of the whole nation. 



142 HISTORYOFTHE 

(as in these kingdoms, the house of lords and com- 
mons,) gave him the oath of fidelity, acknowledging 
him for their lawful sovereign : And when this was 
done, pope Clement Xlth did confirm it, nay, his 
hoUness gave him the investiture of Naples, which is 
the seaUng up all the titles and rights belonging to a 
lawful king, and after this he granted him the bull 
of crusade, by which he acknowledged him king, 
and gave him help to defend himself and his domin- 
ions against all the enemies of Christianity, and all 
enemies whatsoever. Every body knows that this 
pope was for the interests of the house of Bourbon, 
rather than the house of Austria ; and so no wonder, 
if he did not lose any time in settling the crown and 
all the right upon Philip of Bourbon, rather than 
upon Charles the Hid, the present emperor of Ger- 
many. 

This last, thinking that the right to the crown of 
Spain belonged to him, of which I shall not talk, 
begun the war against Philip, supported by the 
Heretics (as the Spaniards call the English,) and 
being proclaimed at Madrid, and at Saragossa, he 
applied to the pope to be confirmed king, and to get 
both the investiture of Naples, and the bull of the 
holy crusade. As to the investiture of Naples, I 
leave it to the history written upon the late war : 
But as to the bull, the pope granted it to him, giving 
him all the titles he gave to Philip. At the same 
time there were two kings, and two bulls, and one 
pope, and one people. The divines met together to 
examine this point, viz : Whether the same people, 



POPISH CHURCH. . 143 

having given their oath of fidelity to Philip, and 
taken the bull granted to him, were obliged to 
acknowledge Charles as a king, and take the bull 
granted to him. 

The divines for Philip were of opinion that the 
pope could not annul the oath, nor dispense with the 
oath taken by the whole nation, and that the people 
were obliged in conscience not to take any other bull 
than that granted to Philip ; and their reason was, 
that the pope was forced by the imperial army to do 
it ; and that his holiness did it out of fear, and to 
prevent the ruin of the church, which then was 
threatened. 

The divines for Charles did allege the pope's 
infallibility, and that every christian is obliged in 
conscience to follow the last declaration of the pope, 
and blindly to obey it, without inquiring into the 
reasons that did move the pope to it. And the same 
dispute was about the presentation of bishops, for 
there was at the same time a bishoprick vacant, and 
Charles having appointed one, and Philip another, 
the pope confirmed them both, and both of them were 
consecrated. From this it appears that the pope 
makes no scruple at all in granting two bulls to two 
kings at the same time, and to embroil with them 
the whole nation ; which he did not out of fear, nor 
to prevent the ruin of the church, but of self-interest, 
and to secure his revenue both ways, and on both 
sides. 

But, reader, be not surprised at this ; for this pope 
I am speaking of, was so ambitious, and of so 



144 HISTORY OF THE 

haughty a temper, that he did not care what means 
he made use of, either to please his temper, or to 
quench the thirst of his ambition. I say, he was of 
so haughty a temper, that he never suffered his 
decrees to he contradicted or disputed, though they 
were against both human and divine laws. To clear 
this, I Avill give an account of an instance in a case 
which happened in his pontificate : 

I was in Lisbon ten years ago, and a Spanish 
gentleman whose surname was Gonzalez, came to 
lodge in the same house where I was for a while 
before ; and as we, after supper, were talking of the 
pope's supremacy and power, he told me that he 
himself was a living witness of the pope's authority 
on oath : and asking him how ? he gave the follow- 
ing account. 

I was born in Granade, said he, of honest and rich, 
though not noble parents, who gave me the best 
education they could in that city. I was not twenty 
years of age when my father and mother died, both 
within the space of six months. They left me all 
they had in the world, recommending to me in their 
testament, to take care of my sister Dorothea, and ta 
provide for her. She was the only sister I had, and 
at that time in the eighteenth year of her age. From 
our youth we had tenderly loved one another ; and 
upon her account, quitting my studies, I gave myself 
up to her company. This tender brotherly love 
produced in my heart at last another sort of love for 
hcT ; and though I never showed her my passion, I 
was a sufferer by it. I was ashamed within myself 



POPISH CHURCH. 145 

to see that I could not master nor overcome this 
irregular inclination ; and percieving that the per- 
sisting in it would prove the ruin of my soul, and 
my sister's too, I finally resolved to quit the country 
for a while, to see whether I could dissipate this 
passion, and banish out of my heart this burning and 
consuming fire ; and after having settled my affairs, 
and put my sister under the care of an aunt, I took 
my leave of her, who being surprised at this unex- 
pected news, she upon her knees begged me to tell 
the reason that moved me to quit the country ; and 
after telling her that I had no reason, but only a 
mind and desire to travel two or three years, and 
that I begged of her not to marry any person in the 
world, until my return home, I left her and went to 
Rome. By letters of recommendation, by money, 
and my careful comportment, I got myself in a little 
time into the favor and house of cardinal A. I. Two 
years I spent in his service at my own expense, and 
his kindness to me was so exceeding^'great, that I 
was not only his companion, but his fovorite and 
confidant. All this while, I was so raving and in so 
deep a melancholy, that his eminence pressed upon 
me to tell him the reason. I told him that my dis- 
temper had no remedy : but he still insisted the more 
to know my distemper. At last, I told him the love 
I had for my sister, and that it bemg impossible she 
should be my wife, my distemper had no remedy. 
To this he said nothing, but the day following went 
to the sacred palace, and meeting in the pope's anti- 
chamber cardinal P. I., he asked him whether the 

19 



146 HISTORYOFTHE 

pope could dispense with the natural and divine 
impediment between brother and sister to be married ; 
and as cardinal P. I. said that the pope could not, 
my protector began a loud and bitter dispute with 
him, alleging reasons by which the pope could do it. 
The pope, hearing the noise, came out of his chamber, 
and asked what was the matter ? He was told it, 
and flying into an uncommon passion, said the pope 
may do every thing, I do dispense with it, and left 
them with these words. The protector took testi- 
mony of the Pope's declaration, and went to the 
datary and drew a public instrument of the dispensa- 
tion, and coming home, gave it to me, and said, 
though I shall be deprived of your good services and 
company, I am very glad that I serve you in this to 
your heart's desire and satisfaction. Take this dis- 
pensation, and go whenever you please to marry 
your sister. I left Rome, and came home, and after 
I had rested from the fatigue of so long a journey, I 
went to present the dispensation to the bishop and 
to get his license ; but he told me that he could not 
receive the dispensation, nor give such a license ; I 
acquainted my protector with this, and immediately 
an excommimication was despatched against the 
bishop, for having disobeyed the pope, and com- 
manding him to pay a thousand pistoles for the 
treasure of the church, and to marry me himself ; so 
I was married by the bishop, and at this time I have 
five children by my wife and sister. 

From these accounts, christian reader, you may 
judge of that popes temper and ambition, and you 



POPISH CHURCH. 147 

may likewise think of the rest as you may see it in 
the following discourse. 

The title, head or direction of this bull is, to all 
the faithful christians, in the kingdoms and dominions 
of Spain, who should help, or serve in the war, 
which the king makes against Turks, Infidels, and 
all the enemies of the holy Catholic faith; or to 
those that should contribute, and pray for the union 
among the christian princes, and for the victory over 
the enemies of Christianity. 

The Roman Catholics, with the Pope, say and 
firmly believe (I speak of the generality) that no man 
can be saved out of their communion ; and so they 
reckon enemies of their faith all those that are of a 
different opinion ; and we may be sure that the 
Protestants or heretics (as they call them) are their 
irreconcilable enemies. 

They pray publicly for the extirpation of the 
heretics, Turks, and Infidels in the mass ; and they 
do really believe, they are bound in conscience to 
make use of all sorts of means, let them be ever so 
base, inhuman, and barbarous, for the murdering of 
them. This is the doctrine of the church of Rome, 
which the priests and confessors do take care to sow 
in the Roman Catholics ; and by their advice, the 
hatred, malice, and aversion is raised to a great height 
against the heretics, as you shall know by the follow- 
ing instances. 

First, in the last war between Charles the Hid, 
and Philip the Vth, the Protestants confederate with 
Charles did suffer very much by the country people. 



148 HISTORY OF THE 

Those encouraged by the priests and confessors of 
PhiUp's part, thinking that if any Christian could kill 
a heretic, he should do God service, did murder in 
private many soldiers both English and Dutch. I 
saw, and I do speak now before God and the world, 
in a town called Ficentes de Ebro, several arms and 
legs out of the ground in the field, and inquiring the 
reason why those corpses were buried in the field (a 
thing indeed not unusual there) I was answered, that 
those were the corpses of some English heretics, 
murdered by the patrons or land-lords, who had 
killed them to show their zeal for their religion, and 
an old maxim among them : De los Enemigos los 
menos : let us have as few enemies as we can. 
Fourteen English private men were killed the night 
before in their beds, and buried in the field, and I 
myself reckoned all of them ; and I suppose many 
others were murdered, whom I did not see, though I 
heard of it. 

The murderers make no scruple of it, but out of 
bravery, and zeal for their religion, tell it to the father 
confessor, not as a sin, but as a famous action done 
by them in favor of their faith. So great is the 
hatred and aversion the Catholics have against the 
Protestants and enemies of their religion. We could 
confirm the truth of this proposition with the cruelty 
of the late king of France against the poor Hugono- 
tes, whom we call now refugees. This is well known 
to every body, therefore I leave Lewis and his coun- 
cellors, where they are in the other world, where it is 
to be feared they endure more torments than the 



P O P I S H C H U R C H. 149 

banished refugees in this present one. So to con- 
clude what I have to say upon the head or title of 
this bull, I may positively affirm that the pope's 
design in granting it, is, first, out of interest ; secondly, 
to encourage the common people to make war, and 
to root up all the people that are not of his commu- 
nion or to increase this way, if he can, his revenues, 
or the treasure of the church. 

I come now to the beginning of the bull, where 
the pope or his subdelegate, deputy, or general 
commissary, doth ground the granting of it in that 
passage of the prophet Joel, chap, iii, v. 18. expressed 
in these words : That he saw for the comfort of all, 
a mystical fountain come out from God in his 
house, (or as it is in Spanish in the original bull) 
from God and from the Lord^s house, which did 
water and wash the sins of that people. 

The reflections which may be made upon this text, 
I leave to our divines, whose learning I do equally 
covet and respect : I only say, that in the Latin Bible 
I have found the text thus : Et fons e domo Jehovce 
prodibit, qui irrigabit vallem cedrorum Lectissima- 
rum. And in our English translation : And a foun- 
tain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and 
shall water the valley of Shittem. Now I leave the 
learned man to make his reflections, and I proceed to 
the application. 

Seeing then our most holy father (so goes on) 
Clement the Xlth, for the zeal of the Catholic king, 
for the defence of our holy faith, to help him in this 
holy enterprise, doth grant him this bull, by which 



150 HISTORYOPTHE 

his holiness openeth the springs of the blood of 
Christ ; and the treasure of his inestimable merits, 
and with it encourageth all the Christians to the 
assistance of this midertaking. 

I said before that the pope grants every year snch 
a bull as this for the same purpose : so every year he 
openeth the springs of Christ's blood. heaven ! 
what is man that thou shouldst magnify him ? Or 
rather, what is this man that he should magnify 
himself, taking upon him the title of most holy father, 
and that of his holiness ? A man (really a man) for 
it is certain that this man and many others of his 

predecessors, had several b s. This man (I say) 

to take upon himself the power of opening the springs 
of Christ, and this every year ! ! Who will not be 
surprised at his assurance, and at his highest provo- 
cation of the Lord and his Christ ? 

For my part, I really believe that he openeth the 
springs of the blood of Christ, and openeth afresh 
those wounds of our Redeemer, not only every year, 
but every day without ceasing. This I do believe, 
but not as they believe it ; and if their doctrine be 
true among themselves, by course they must agree 
with me in this saying, that the pope doth crucify 
afresh our Saviour Christ without ceasing. In the 
treatise of vices and sins, the Romish divines propose 
a question : utrum, or whether a man that takes 
upon himself one of God's attributes, be a blasphe- 
mous man, and whether such a man by his sins can 
kill God and Christ, or not ? As to the first part of 
the question, they all do agree that such a man is a 



POPISH CHURCH. 151 

blasphemous man. As to the second part, some are 
of an opinion that such an expression, of killing God, 
has no room in the question. But the greater part 
of scholastic and moral authors do admit the expres- 
sion, and say such a man cannot kill God effectively, 
but that he doth it affectively ; that is to say, that 
willingly taking upon himself an attribute of God, 
and acting against his laws, he doth affront and 
offend in the highest degree that supreme lawgiver ; 
and by taking on himself the office of a high priest, 
the power of forgiving sins, which only belong to our 
Saviour Jesus, he affectively offends, and openeth 
afresh his wounds and the springs of his blood : and 
if it were possible for us to see him face to face, 
whom no man living hath seen yet ; as we see him 
through a glass now, we should find his high indig- 
nation against such a man. But he must appear 
before the dreadful tribunal of our God, and be judged 
by him according to his deeds : he shall have the 
same judgment with the anti-christ, for though we 
cannot prove by the Scripture that he is the anti- 
christ, notwithstanding we may defy anti-christ him- 
self ; whoever he be, and whenever he comes, to do 
worse and more wicked things than the pope doth. 
0, what a fearful thing is it to fall mto the hands of 
a living God ! Now I come to the articles of the bull ; 
and first of all, 

1. His holiness grants a free and full indulgence 
and pardon of all their sins to those who, upon their 
own expenses, go to or serve personally in the war 
against the enemies of the Roman Catholic faith ; but 



152 HISTORY OP THE 

this must be understood if they continue in the army 
the whole year : so the next year they are obUged 
to take this bull, and to continue in the same service, 
if they will obtain the same indulgence and pardon, 
and so on all their life time, for if they quit the service, 
they cannot enjoy this^ benefit, therefore, for sake of 
this imaginary pardon, they continue in it till they 
die, for otherwise there is no pardon of sins. 

Let us observe another thing in this article. The 
same indulgence and pardon is granted to those that 
die in the army, or going to the army before the ex- 
pedition, or before the end of the year : but this 
must be understood also, if they die with perfect 
contrition of their sins ; or if they do confess them 
by mouth, or if they cannot, if they have a hearty de- 
sire to confess them. As to the first condition, if they 
die with perfect contrition, no Roman or Protestant 
divine will deny that God will forgive such a man's 
sins, and receive him into his everlasting favor, so Xo 
such a man, a free and full indulgence and pardon is 
of no use ; for without it, he is sure to obtain God's 
mercy and forgiveness. 

As to the second condition, or if they do confess 
them by mouth, or have a hearty desire to do it : if 
a man want a hearty repentance, or is not heartily 
penitent and contrite, what can this condition of con- 
fessing by mouth, or having a hearty desire for it, 
profit such a man's soul ? It being certain that a 
man by his open confession may deceive the confes- 
sor and his own soul, but he cannot deceive God 
Almighty, who is the only searcher of our hearts. And 



POPlSHCHURCa* 153 

if the Catholics will say to this, that open confession 
is a sign of repentance, we may answer them, thdt 
among the Protestants it is so, for being not obliged 
to do it, nor by the laws of God, nor by those of the 
church, when they do it, it is in all human probability, 
a sure sign of repentance : but among the Roman 
Catholics, this is no argument of repentance, for very 
often their lips are near the Lord, but their hearts 
very far off. 

How can we suppose that an habitual sinner, that 
to fulfil the precepts of their church, confesses once a 
year ; and after it, the very same day, falls again 
into the same course of life ; how can we presume, I 
say, that the open confession of such a man is a sign 
of repentance ? And if the Roman Catholics reply to 
this, that the case of this first article is quite different, 
being only for those that die in the war with true 
contrition and repentance, or open confession, or 
hearty desire of it ; I say that in this case it is the 
same as in others. For whenever and wherever a 
man dies truly penitent and heartily sorry for his sin, 
such a man, without this bull and its indulgences and 
pardons, is forgiven by God, who hath promised his 
holy spirit to all those that ask it ; and on the 6ther 
side, if a man dies without repentance, though he 
confesseth his sins, he cannot obtain pardon and 
forgiveness from God, and in such a case the pope^s 
indulgences and pardons cannot free that man from 
the punishment his impenitent heart hath deserved. 

Observe likewise, that to all those warriors against 
the enemies of the Romish faith, the pope grants the 

SO 



154 HISTORY OF THE 

same indulgences which he grants to those, that go- 
to the conquest of the holy land, in the year of jubilee. 
The Roman Catholics ought to consider, that the 
greatest favor we can expect from God Almighty, is 
only the pardon of our sins, for his grace and ever- 
lasting glory do follow after it. Then if the pope 
grants them free, full and general pardon of their 
sins in this bull, what need have they of the par- 
dons and indulgences, granted to those that go to 
the conquest of the holy land, and in the year of 
jubilee ? 

But because few are acquainted with the nature 
of such indulgences and graces granted in the year 
of jubilee, I must crave leave from the learned 
people to say what I know in this matter. I will 
not trouble the public with the catalogue of the 
pope's bulls, but I cannot pass by one article con- 
tained in one of these bulls, which may be found in 
some libraries of curious gentlemen and learned 
divines of our church, and especially in the earl of 
Sunderland's library, which is directed to the Roman 
Catholics of England in these words : Filii mei date 
mihi cor da vestra, et hoc sufficit vobis : My children 
give me your hearts, and this is sufficient. So by 
this, they may swear and curse, steal and murder, 
and commit most heinous crimes ; if they keep their 
hearjts for the pope, that is enough to be saved. 
Observe this doctrine, and I leave it to you, reader, 
whether such an opinion is according to God's will, 
nay, to natural reason, or not ? 

The article of the bull for the year of jubilee doth 



POPISH CHURCH. 155 

contain these words : If any christian, and profes- 
sor of our Catholic faith, going to the holy land, 
to th€ war against the Turks and Infidels, or in 
the year of jubilee to our city of Rome, should 
happen to die in the way, we declare that his soul 
goes straightway to heaven. 

The preachers of the holy crusade, in their circuits, 
are careful in specifying in their sermons, all these 
graces and indulgences, to encourage the people, 
-either to go to the war or to make more bulls than 
one. With this crowd of litanies and pardons, the 
pope blinds the common people, and increases his 
treasure. 

In this same first article of our present bull, it is 
said, that the same graces and indulgences are 
granted to all those, who, though they do not go 
personally, should send another upon their own 
expenses ; and that if he be a cardinal, primate, 
patriarch, archbishop, bishop, son of a king, prince, 
duke, marquis, or earl, he must send ten, or at least 
four soldiers, and the rest of the people one, or one 
between ten. 

Observe now, that according to the rules of their 
morality, no man can merit, by any involuntary 
action ; because, as they say, he is compelld and 
forced to it. How can, then, this noble people merit, 
or obtain such graces and indulgences, when they do 
not act voluntarily : for if we mind the pope's ex- 
pression, he compels and forces them to send ten 
soldiers, or at least four. They have no liberty to 
the contrary, and consequently they cannot merit by 
it. 



156 HISTORYOFTHE 

The Second Article of this Bull. 

The pope compriseth in this command of sending 
one soldier, chapters, parish churches, convents of 
friars, and monasteries of nuns, without excepting 
the mendicant orders ; but the pope in this doth favor 
the ecclesiastical persons more than the laity, for as 
to the laity, he says, that three or four may join 
together, and send one soldier ; and as to the ecclesi- 
astical persons, he enlarges this to ten persons, that 
if between them, ten do send one soldier, they all, 
and the person sent by them, obtain the said graces. 
I do believe there is a great injustice done to the 
laity ; for these have families to maintain, and the 
ecclesiastics have not, and the greatest part of the 
riches are in their hands. This I can aver, that I 
read in the chronicles of the Franciscan order, written 
by Fr. Anthony Perez, of the same order, where^ ex- 
tolling and praising the providence of God upon the 
Franciscan friars, he says, that the general of St. 
Francis's order doth rule and govern continually 
600,000 friars in Christendom, who having nothing 
to live upon, God takes care of them, and all are well 
clothed and maintained. There are in the Roman 
Catholic religion seventy different orders, governed 
by seventy regular generals, who, after six years of 
command, are made either bishops or cardinals. I 
say this by the by, to let the public know the great 
number of priests and friars, idle and needless people 
in that religion ; for if in one order only there are 
600,000 friars, how many shall be found in seventy 



POPISH CHUBCH. 157 

different orders ; I am sure if the pope would com- 
mand the fiftieth part of them to go to this holy war, 
the laity would be relieved, the king would have a 
great deal more powerful army, and his dominions 
would not be so much embroiled with divisions, nor 
so full of vice and debauchery, as they are now. 

The Third Article. 

It is lawful for the priests and friars to go to this 
war to preach the word of God in it, or serve, or help 
in it, without incurring irregularity. They do preach 
and encourage the soldiers to kill the enemies of their 
religion, and to make use of whatever means they 
can for it ; for in so doing there is no sin, but a great 
service done to God. 

Out of this war if a priest strike another and there 
is mutilation, or if he encourage another to revenge 
or murder, he incurs irregularity, and he cannot 
perform any ecclesiastical or divine service, till he is 
absolved by the pope, or his deputy : But in the war 
against the enemies of their religion, nay, out of the 
war they advise them to murder them, as I have 
said before, and this without incurring irregularity. 
blindness of heart ! He endeth this article by 
excusing the soldiers from fasting when they are in 
the army, but not when they are out of it ; a strange 
thing that a man should command more than God. 
Our Saviour Jesus Christ commands us to fast from 
sin, not from meat ; but more of this in another 
article. 



158 HISTORY or THE 



The Fourth Article. 



In this article the pope compriseth all the people, 
and puts them upon double charges and expenses, 
for besides the contribution for a soldier, every body 
must take the bull if he will obtain the said graces, 
and must give two reals of plate, i. e. thirteen pence 
half penny. This is a bitter and hard thing for the 
people : but see how the pope sweetens it. I grant, 
besides the said graces, to all those who should take 
this bull and give the charity undermentioned, that 
even in the time of suspension Of divine and ecclesi- 
astical service, they may hear and say mass, and 
other devotions, &c. Charity must be voluntary to 
be acceptable to God : How then can he call it 
charity, when the people must pay for the bull, or 
some of their goods shall be sold ? And not only 
this, but that their corpse cannot be buried in sacred 
ground without it, as is expressed in the fifth article. 

The Sixth Article. 

The pope doth excuse all that take this bull not 
only from fasting, but he gives them license to eat 
flesh in lent by the consent of both physicians spirit- 
ual and temporal. This is, if a man is sick, he must 
consult the physician, whether he may eat flesh or 
not ; and if the physician gives his consent, he must 
ask his father-confessor's consent too, to eat flesh ill 
lent and other days of ecclesiastical prohibition. 
Only a stupid man will not find out the trick of this 
granting, for in the first place, necessitas caret lege ; 



POPISH CHURCH. 159 

necessity knows no law : If a man is sick, he is 
excused by the law of God, nay, by the law of nature 
from hurtful things, nay, he is obliged in conscience to 
preserve his health by using all sorts of lawful means. 
This is a maxim received among the Romans, as 
well as among us. What occasion is there then of 
the pope's and both physicians' license to do such a 
thing ? Or if there is such a power in the bull, why 
doth not the pope grant them license absolutely, 
without asking consent of both physicians ? We 
may conclude that such people must be blindly 
superstitious, or deeply ignorant. 

But this great privilege must be understood only 
for the laity, not for the secular, nor regular priests, 
except the cardinals, who are not mentioned here, 
the knights of the military order, and those that are 
sixty years of age and above. But the priests and 
'friars (notwithstanding this express prohibition) if 
they have a mind, evade it on pretence of many 
light distempers, of the assiduity of their studies, or 
exercise of preaching the lent's sermons ; and by 
these and other, as they think, weighty reasons, they 
get a license to eat flesh in lent. So we see, that 
they will preach to the people obedience to all the 
commandments of the pope, and they do disobey 
them ; they preach so, because they have private 
ends and interests in so doing ; but they do not 
observe them themselves, because they are against 
their inclinations, and without any profit, and so 
advising the people to mind them, they do not mind 
them themselves. 



160 HISTORY OF THE 

The Seventh and Eighth Jlrticles. 

To the same, the pope grants fifteen years, ancf 
fifteen quarantains of pardon, and all the penances 
not yet performed by them, &c. Observe the igno- 
ranee of that people : the pope grants them f^teen 
years and fifteen quarantains oi pardon by this bull, 
and they are so infatuated that they take it every 
year indeed they cannot desire more than the free 
and general pardon of sins ; and if they obtain it by 
one bull for fifteen years, and fifteen quarantains^ 
what need or occasion have they for a yearly bull^ 
Perhaps some are so stuped as to think to heap up 
pardons during this life for the next world, or to 
leave them to their children and relations : but 
observe, likewise, that to obtain this, they must fast 
for devotion's sake some days not prohibited by the 
church. They really believe, that keeping them- 
selves within the rules of ecclesiastical fasting, they 
merit a great deal ; but God knows, for as they say, 
the merit is grounded in the mortification of the 
body, and by this rule, I will convince them that 
they cannot merit at all. 

For let us know how they fast, and what, and 
how they eat ? Now I will give a true account of 
their fasting in general ; the rules which must be 
observed in a right fasting are these — In the morning, 
it is allowed by all the casuistical authors, to drink 
whatever a body has a mind for, and eat an ounce 
df bread, which they call parva materia, a small 
matter. And as for the drink, they follow the pope's 



POPISH CHURCH. 161 

declaration concerning chocolate. Give me leave to 
acquaint you with the case. 

When the chocolate begun to be introduced, the 
Jesuits' opinion was, that being a great nourishment, 
it could not be drunk without breaking fast ; but the 
lovers of it proposing the case to the pope, he 
ordered to be brought to him all the ingredients of 
which the chocolate is made, which being accordingly 
done, the pope drank a cup, and decided the dispute, 
^B^ym^ypotusnonfrangitjejuniurn: Liquid doth 
not break fasting, which declaration is a maxim put 
into all their moral sums ; and by it every body 
may lawfully drink as many cups as he pleases and 
eat an ounce of bread, as a small matter in the 
morning ; and by the same rule any body may drink 
a bottle of wine or two without breaking his fasting, 
for liquid doth not break fasting. 

At noon they may eat as much as they can of all 
sorts of things, except flesh ; and at night, it is 
allowed not to sup, but to take something by way of 
collation : in this point of collation, the casuists do 
not agree together ; for some say that nobody can 
lawfully eat but eight ounces of dry and cold things 
as bread, walnuts, raisins, cold fried fishes, and the 
lilce. Other authors say, that the quantity of this 
collation, must be measured with the constitution of 
the person who fasts ; for if the person is of a strong 
constitution, tall, and of a good appetite, eight ounces 
are not enough, and twelve must be allowed to such 
a man, and so of the rest. This is the form of their 
fasting in general : though some few religious and 

21 



162 HISTORY OF THE 

devout persons eat but one meal a day ; nay, some 
used to fast twenty-four hours without eating any 
thing ; but this is once in a year, which they call a 
fast with the bells, that is, in the holy week, among 
other ceremonies, the Roman Catholics put the con- 
secrated host or wafer in a rich urna or box, on 
Thursday, at twelve of the clock in the morning ; 
and they take it out on Friday at the same time ; 
these twenty -four hours every body is in mourning, 
nay, the altars are veiled, and the monument where 
they place the image of Jesus Christ upon the cross, 
is all covered with black. The bells are not heard 
all this while ; and, as I said, many used to fast with 
the bells ; and they make use of this expression to 
signify that they fast twenty -four hours without 
eating any thing at all. 

From these we may easily know whether their 
bodies are mortified with fasting or not ? For how 
can a man of sense say, that he mortifies his body 
with fasting, when he drinks two or three cups of 
chocolate, with a small toast in the morning, eats as 
much as he can at dinner, and eight ounces at night: 
Add to this, that he may sit in company and eat a 
crust of bread, and drink as many bottles of wine as 
he will: this is not accounted eolation, because 
liquid doth not break fasting. This is the form of 
their fasting, and the rules they must observe in it, 
and this is reckoned a meritorious work ; and there- 
fore doing this, they obtain the said indulgences and 
pardons of this bull. 

Observe likewise, that the Roman Catholics of 



POPISH CHURCH. 163 

Spain are allowed to eat, in some days, prohibited 
by the church, and especially Saturdays, the follow- 
ing things: The head and pluck of a sheep, a 
eheevelet of a foul, and the like ; nay, they may boil 
a leg of mutton, and drink the broth of it. This 
toleration of eating such things was granted by the 
pope to king Ferdinand, who being in a warm war 
against the Moors, the soldiers suffered very much 
in the days of fasting for want of fish, and other 
things eatable for such days ; and for this reason the 
pope granted him and his army license to eat the 
above mentioned things on Saturdays and other 
days of fasting commanded by the church ; and this 
was in the year 1479. But this toleration only to 
the army was introduced among the country people, 
especially in both Old and New Castilla, and this 
custom is become a law among them. But this is not 
so in other provinces of Spain, where the common 
people have not the liberty of eating such things ; 
among the quality only those that have a particular 
dispensation from the pope for them and their 
families. 

There is an order of friars, called La or den de la 
victoria, the order of the victory, whose first founder 
was St. Francis de Paula ; and the friars are prO' 
hibited by the rules, statues and constitution of the 
order, to eat flesh ; nay, this prohibition stands in 
force during their lives, as it is among the Carthusians, 
who, though in great sickness, cannot eat any thing 
of flesh ; but this must be understood within the 
convent's gate ; for when they go abroad they may 



164 HISTORYOPTHE 

eat any thing without transgressing the statue of the 

order. 

But the pleasantness of their practices will show 

the tricks of that religion. As to the Victorian friars, 

I knew in Saragossa, one father Conchillos, professor 

of divinity in his convent, learned in their way, but 

a pleasant companion. He was, by his daily exercise 

of the public lecture, confined to his convent every 

day in the afternoon ; but as soon as the lecture was 

over, his thought and care was to divert himself with 

music, gaming, &c. One evening, having given me 

an invitation to his room, I went accordingly, and 

there was nothing wanting of all sorts of recreation, 

music, cards, comedy, and very good merry company. 

We went to supper, which is composed of nice, 

delicate eatable things, both of flesh and fish, and 

for the dessert the best sweetmeats. But observing, 

at supper, that my good Conchillos used to take a leg 

of partridge and go to the window, and come again 

and take a wing of a fowl, and do the same, I asked 

him whether he had some beggar in the street, to 

whom he threw the leg and wing ? No, said he to 

me. What then do you do with them out of the 

window ? What, said he ; I cannot eat flesh within 

the walls, but the statue of my order doth not forbid 

me to eat it without the walls ; and so, whenever 

we have a fancy for it, we may eat flesh, putting 

our heads out of the window. Thus they give a 

turn to the law, but a turn agreeable to them : And 

so they do in all their fastings, and abstinences from 

flesh. 

/ 



POPISH CHURCH. 165 

As to the Carthusians, and their abstinence and 
fasting, I could say a great deal, but I am afraid I 
should swell this treatise beyond its designed length, 
if I should amuse you with an account of all their 
ridiculous ways. This I cannot pass by, for it con- 
duces very much to clearing this point of abstinence 
and fasting. The order of this constitution is — 

First : A continual abstinence from flesh ; and 
this is observed so severely and strictly, that I knew 
a friar, who, being dangerously ill, the physicians 
ordered to apply, upon his head, a young pigeon, 
opened alive at the breast ; which being proposed by 
the prior to the whole community, they were of 
opinion that such a remedy was against the constitu- 
tion, and therefore not fit to be used any way : That 
these poor friars must die rather than touch any 
fleshly thing, though it be for the preserving of their 
health. 

Secondly. Perpetual silence and confinement is 
the next precept of St. Brune, their founder : That 
is, that the friars cannot go abroad out of the convent, 
or garden walls, only the prior and procurator may 
go upon business of the community. The rest of the 
friars' lives are thus : Each of them has an apartment 
with a room, bed-chamber, kitchen, cellar, closet to 
keep fruit in, a garden, with a well, and a place in it 
for firing. Next to the door of the apartment there 
is a wheel in the wall, which serves to put the 
victuals in at noon, and at night, and the friar turns 
the wheel, and takes his dinner and supper, and in 
the morning he puts in the wheel the plates, by 



16^ HISTORY OP THE 

which the servant, that carries the victuals, kno\vi& 
they are in good health ; and if he finds the victuals 
again, he acquaints the father prior with it, who 
straight goes to visit them. The prior hath a master- 
key of all the rooms, for the friars are obliged to lock 
the door on the inside, and to keep the room always 
shut, except when they go to say mass in the 
morning, and to say the canonical hours in the day 
time ; then if they meet one another, they can say 
no other words but these : One says, Brother, we 
must die ; and the other answers, We knowt it. 
Only on Thursday, between three and four in the 
afternoon, they meet together for an hour's time, and 
if it befair weather, they go to walk in the garden of 
the convent, and if not, in the common hall, where 
they cannot talk of other things, but of the lives of 
such or such a saint ; and when the hour is over, 
every one goes to his own chamber. So they observe 
fasting and silence continually, but except flesh, they 
eat the most exquisite and delicate things in the 
world ; for commonly in one convent there are but 
twenty friars, and there is not one convent of Carthu- 
sians, which hath not five, six, and many, twenty 
thousand pistoles of yearly rent. 

Such is their fasting from flesh and conversation ; 
but let us know their fasting from sins. 

Dr. Peter Bernes, secular priest, belonging to the 
parish church of the blessed Mary Magdalene, (as 
they do call her,) being thirty-two years of age, and 
dangerously ill, made a vow to the glorious saint, 
that if he should recover from that sickness, he would 



POPISH CHURCH. 169 

retire into a Carthusian convent. He recovered, and 
accordingly, renouncing his benefice and the world,he 
took the Carthusian habit, in the convent of the Con- 
ception, three miles from Saragossa. For the space 
of three years he gave proofs of virtue and singular 
conformity with the statues of the order. His strict 
hfe was so crowded with the disciplines and mortifi- 
cations, that the prior gave out, in the city, that he 
was a saint on earth. I went to see him with the 
father prior's consent, and indeed I thought there was 
something extraordinary in his countenance, and in 
his words ; and I had taken him myself for a man 
ready to work miracles. Many people went to see 
him, and among the crowd a young woman, ac- 
quainted with him before he took the habit, who 
unknown to the strict friars got into his chamber, and 
there she was kept by the pious father eighteen 
months. In that time the prior used to visit the 
chamber, but the Senora was kept in the bed- 
chamber, till at last the prior went one night to 
consult him upon some business, and hearing a child 
cry, asked him what was the matter ; and though 
my friend Bernes endeavored to conceal the case, the 
prior found it out ; and she, owning the thing, was 
turned out with the child, and the father was confined 
forever : And this was his virtue, fasting and absti- 
nence from flesh, &c. 

To those that either fast in the abovesaid manner, 
or keep fasting for devotion's sake, his holiness grants' 
(takmg this bull of crusade) all the said graces, 
pardons and indulgences ; and really, if such grace* 

22 



170 HISTORYOFTHB 

were of some use or benefit, the people thus doing, 
want them very much ; or may be, the pope know- 
ing these practices, doth this out of pity and compas- 
sion for their souls, without thinking that this bull is 
a great encouragement and incitement to sin. 

The Ninth Article, 

This article contains, first, that to pray with more 
purity, every body taking this bull may choose a 
confessor to his own fancy, who is empowered to 
absolve sins, except the crime of heresy, reserved to 
the pope, or apostolical see. You must know what 
they mean by the crime heresy. Salazar Irribarren 
and Corrella, treating of the reserved sins, say, that 
the crime of heresy is, viz. : If I am all alone in my 
room, and the door being locked up, talking to myself; 
I say, I do not believe in God, or in the pope of Rome, 
this is heresy. They distinguish two sorts of heresies ; 
one interna, and another externa, that is public and 
secret. The public heresy, such as that I have now 
told you of, nobody can absolve, but the pope 
himself The second being only in thought, every 
body can absolve, being licensed by the bishop, 
by the benefit of this bull. So, whoever pronounces 
the pope is not infallible : the English or Protestants 
may be saved ; The Virgin Mary is not to be prayed 
to : The priest hath not power to bring down from 
heaven J. C. with fiYQ words : Such an one is a 
public heretic, and he must go to Rome, if he 
desireth to get absolution. 
Secondly. This article contains, that by the benefit 



POPISH CHURCH. 171 

of this bull, every body may be free from restitution, 
during his own life ; and that he may make it by his 
heirs after his death. what an unnatural thing is 
this ! What, if I take away from my neighbor three 
hundred pounds, which is all he hath in the world to 
maintain his family, must I be free from this restitu- 
tion, and leave it to my heir's will to make it after 
my death ? Must I see my neighbor's family suffer 
by it ; and can I bo free before God, of a thing that 
0od, nature and humanity, require of me to do ? 
Indeed this is a diabolical doctrine. Add to this 
what I have said of the bull of composition, that is, 
if you take so many bulls, to compound the matter 
with your confessor, you will be free forever from 
making restitution : But really you shall not be free 
from the eternal punishment. 

Likewise, by the power of this bull, any confessor 
may commute any vow, except those of chastity, 
religion, and beyond seas : But this is upon con- 
dition that they should give something for the crusade. 

God, what an expression is this ! To commute 
any vow, except those of chastity, &c. &c. So, if I 
make a vow to kill a man, if I promise upon oath to' 
rob my neighbor, the confessor may commute me 
these vows, for sixpence : But if I vow to keep 
chastity, I must go to Rome, to the pope himself. 
What an expression is this ? I say again how many 
millions have vowed chastity ? If I say two millions, 

1 shall not lie. And how many of these two millions 
observe it ? If I say five hundred, I shall not lie. 
And for all this, we see nobody go to Rome for abso- 
lution. 



173 HISTORY OF THB 

The Roman Catholics will say, that by these 
words, vow of chastity^ must be only understood 
abstaining from marriage ; but I will leave it to any 
man of reason, whether the nature of chastity com- 
priseth only that ? Or let me ask the Roman 
Catholics, whether a priest, who has made a vow of 
chastity, that is, never to marry, if he commits the 
sins of the flesh, will be accounted chaste or not ? 
They will, and must say, not. Then, if so many 
thousands of priests live lewdly, breaking the vow of 
chastity, why do they not go to the pope for absolu- 
tion ? To this' they never can answer me ; therefore 
the pope, in this bull, doth blind them, and the priests 
do what they please, and only the common people 
are imposed upon, and suffer by it. God Almighty, 
by his infinite power, enlighten them all, that so the 
priests may be more sincere, and the people lew 
darkened. 

The Tenth Article, 

The pope grants the same indulgences to those 
that should die suddenly, if they die heartily sorry 
for their sins. Of this I have spoken already, and 
said, that if a man dies truly penitent he hath no 
occasion for the pope's pardon, for his true penitence 
hath more interest (if I may thus express myself) 
with God Almighty, than the pope with all his infalli- 
bility. So I proceed to the next, which is 

The Eleventh Article. 

In this article the pope grants besides the said 
indulgences, to those that take this bull, that they 



POPISQ CHURCH. 173 

may twice more in the same year be absolved of all 
their sins, of what nature soever, once more during: 
their lives, and once more at the poiilt of death. 
This is a bold saying, and full of assurance, poor 
blind people ! Where have you your eyes or under- 
standing ? Mind, I pray, for the light of your con- 
sciences, this impudent way of decieving you, and 
go along with me. The pope has granted you in the 
aforesaid articles, all you can wish for, and now 
again, he grants you a nonsensical privilege, viz. 
that you may twice at the point of death, be absolved 
of all your sins. Observe, passing by, that a simple 
priest, who hath not been licensed by the ordinary to 
hear confessions, upon urgent necessity, i. e. upon 
the point of death, is allowed by all the casuistical 
authors, nay, by the councils, to absolve all sins 
whatsoever, if there be not present another licensed 
priest. Again, nobody can get such an absolution, 
as is expressed in this bull, but at the point of his 
soul's departing from the body, i. e. when there is no 
hope of recovery ; and the confessors are so careful 
in this point, that sometimes, they begin to pronounce 
the absolution, when a man is alive, and he is dead 
before they finish the words. 

Now pray tell me how can a man be twice in such 
a point ? And if he got once as much, as he cannot 
get the second time, what occasion hath he for the 
second full, free, and plenary indulgence, and abso- 
lution of all his sins ? I must stop here, for if I was 
to tell freely my opinion upon this point, some will 
think I do it out of some private ends j which I never 
do upon delivering matters of fact. 



174 HISTORTOPTHB 

The Twelfth Article. 

Here the most holy father gives his power and 
authority to the general apostolical commissary oi 
the crusade, and all other graces and faculties, to 
revoke and suspend all the graces and indulgences 
granted in this bull, by his holiness, during the year 
of publishing it; and not only to suspend them upon 
any restriction or limitation, but absolutely, though 
this, or any other bull, or brief of indulgences, granted 
by this or other popes, did contain words contrary to 
it, viz : Suppose if Clement, or another pope, should 
say, I grant to such an one such faculties, and I 
anathematize all those that should attempt to suspend 
the said faculties. This last expression would be of 
no force at all, because this bull specifies the contrary. 
So it is a thing very remarkable, that the pope 
dispossesseth himself by this bull, of all his power 
and authority, and giveth it to the general apostolical 
commissary, insomuch that the apostolical commis- 
sary hath more power than the pope himself, during 
the year : and this power and authority is renewed 
and confirmed to him by his holiness. And not only 
he has this power over the pope, but over all the 
popes, and their briefs, in whatsoever time granted 
to any place, or person whatsoeveV. For it is in the 
apostolical commissary's power to suspend all graces 
and privileges whatsoever, granted since the first 
pope began to grant indulgences, which things are 
all inconsistent with the independency and supremacy 
of the holy father, nay, according to the principles 



P O P I S H C H U R C H. 175 

and sentiments of their own authors, but we see they 
are consistent with their blindness and ignorance. 

The Thirteenth Article. 

This article showeth us plainly the reason, why 

the pope acts thus in granting of his power to the 

general apostolical commissary of the crusade, for he 

grants him authority to revoke and suspend all the 

indulgences here granted by himself and other popes, 

but he grants him the same authority to call again 

the very same indulgences, and to make them good 

again. And next to this power (observe this) he 

grants him and his deputies power to fix and settle 

the price or charity, the people ought to give for the 

bull. This is the whole matter, and we may use the 

English saying. No cure, no pay, quite reverse. No 

payx^aa cure, no indulgence nor pardon of sins. The 

treasiire of the church (being a spiritual gift) cannot 

be sold for money, without Simony. And if the 

Romans say that the pope has that power derived 

from Christ, or given gratis to him, let them mind 

the words : Quod gratis accepistis, gratis date. If 

the pope payeth nothing for having such power, if 

he has it gratis, why does he sell it to the faithful ? 

Gan a private man, or his deputy put a price an a 

spiritual thing ? blindness of heart ? 

The Fourteenth Article. 

In this article the general apostolical commissary 

makes use of his powei: and authority, he says, In 

favor of this holy bully we do suspend, during tht 



17$ HISTORY OP THE 

year^ all the graces, indulgences, and faculties of 
this or any other kind, ^^c. Though they be in 
J'avor of the building of St. Peter^s church at Rome. 
Except only from this suspension of the privileges 
granted to the superiors of the mendicant orders. 
He excepts only from this suspension the privileges 
of the four mendicant orders, because the friars of 
those orders, being mendicants or beggars, they can 
be no great hindrance of this project. I ask my 
countrymen this- question : If Dn. Francis Anthony 
Ramirez has such a power, to do and undo, in despite 
of the pope, whatever he pleases for a whole year ; 
and this power is renewed to him every year, by a 
fresh bull ; of what use is the pope in Spain ? And 
if he has resigned his authority to Don Ramirez, why 
do they send every year to Rome for privileges, 
dispensations, faculties, bulls, &c., and throw their 
money away ? If Ramirez has power to stop, and 
make void any concession by the pope, what need 
have they for so great trouble and expense ? Is not 
this a great stupidity and infatuity ? Observe the 
next article. 

The Fifteenth Article, 

All those prohibitions and suspensions aforemen*- 
tioned, are only to obhge the people to take the bull ; 
for the general apostolical commissary says ; Wt 
declare that all those that take this hull, do obtain 
and enjoy all the graces, and faculties, 8fc. which 
have been granted by the popes, Paul the Vth, and 
Urbannus the Vlllth, Sfc. So if a poor man takes no 



POPISH CHURCH. 177 

bull, though he be heartily penitent, there is no 
pardon for him. I say, there is no pardon for him 
from the pope and his commissary, but there is surely 
pardon for him from God ; and he is in a better way 
than all the bigots that take the bull, thinking to be 
free by it from all their sins. 

Observe also the last words of this article : We 

command that every body that takes this bull, be 

obliged to keep by him the same, which is here 

printed, signed and sealed with our name and seal ; 

and that otherwise they cannot obtain, nor enjoy 

the benefit of the said bull. This is a cheat, robbery, 

and roguery ; for the design of the general apostohcal 

commissary is, to oblige them to take another bull. 

The custom is, that when they take every year a new 

bull, they ought to show the old one, or else they 

must take two that year. Now let us suppose that 

all the contents of the bull are as efficacious as the 

bigots do believe them to be. A man takes the bull, 

pays for it, and performs and fulfileth the contents of 

it. Is not this enough to enjoy all the graces, &c ? 

What is the meaning then of commanding to keep 

the same bull by them, but a cheat, robbery, and 

roguery ? I do not desire better proof of this than 

what the commissary affords me in his following 

words, by which he contradicts himself. He says, 

and whereas you (speaking with Peter Dezuloaga, 

who was the man that took the bull which was left 

at the publisher's shop) havegiwn two reals ofplate^ 

and have taken this bull, and your nam^e is written 

in it, we declare that you have already obtained' 

23 



178 HISTORY OP THE 

and art granted the said indulgences, S^c. And 
that you may enjoy and make use of them, 8fC. 

If he has already obtained all, of what use may it 
be to keep the bull by him ? How can the commis- 
sary make these expressions agree together ? First. 
If he doth not keep the bull by him, he cannot enjoy 
the benefit of the bull. Second. Jls soon as he takes 
it, he has already obtained all the graces, S^c, and 
enjoys the benefit of the bull. These are two quite 
contrary ^things. Then the design in the first is 
robbery and roguery, and in the second, cheat, fraud 
and deceit. 

Reflect again : Whereas you have taken the bull 
and paid for it, you have already obtained all the 
indulgences and pardons af sins. By this declara- 
tion, infallible to the Romans, let a man come from 
committing murder, adultery, sacrilege, &c., if he 
takes and pays for the bull, his sins are already 
pardoned. Is not this a scandalous presumption ? 
If a man is in a state of sin, and has no repentance 
in his heart, how can such a man be pardoned at so 
cheap a rate as two reals of plate ? If this was sure 
and certain, the whole world would embrace their 
religion, for they then would be sure of their salva- 
tion. Again, if they believe this bull to be true, 
how can they doubt of their going to heaven imme- 
diately after death? For a man, whose sins are 
pardoned, goes straightway to heaven ; so if the sins 
of all men and women (for every body takes the 
bull) are pardoned by it, and consequently go to 
heaven, why do they set up a purgatory ? or why 
are they afraid of hell ? 



POPISH CHURCH. 179 

Let us say, that we may suspect, that this bull 
sends more people into hell, than it can save from it ; 
for it is the greatest encouragement to sin in the 
world. A man says, I may . satisfy my lusts and 
passions, I may commit all wickedness, and yet I am 
sure to be pardoned of all, by the taking of this bull 
for two reals of plate. By the same rule, their 
consciences cannot be under any remorse nor trouble, 
for if a man commits a great sin, he goes to confess, 
he gets absolution, he has by him this bull, or 
permission to sin, and his conscience is at perfect 
ease, insomuch that after he gets absolution, he may 
go and commit new sins, and go again for absolution. 

If we press with these reflections and arguments 
the Roman Catholic priests, especially those of good 
sense, they will answer that they do not believe any 
such thing ; for if a man (say they) doth not repent 
truly of his sins, he is not pardoned by God, though 
he be absolved by the confessor. Well, if it be so, 
why does the pope, by his general apostolical com- 
missary, say, Whereas you have taken and paid Jor 
this bull, you have already obtained pardon for 
your sins, 8^c. We must come then to say, that the 
cheat, fraud, and deceit is in the pope, and that Don 
Ramirez is the pope's instrument to impose so grossly 
upon the poor Spaniards. The confessor grants free 
and full indulgence and pardon of all sins, and of all 
the pains and punishments which the penitent was 
obliged to endure for them in purgatory. By virtue 
of this absolution then, we may say, no soul goes to 
purgatory especially out of the dominions of the king 



180 HISTORY OF THfi 

of Spain, for as I said, in the beginning of the expla- 
nation of the bull, every living soul, from seven years 
of age and upwards, is obliged to take the bull, and 
consequently, if every soul obtains the grant of being^ 
pardoned of all the pains which they were to endure 
and suifer in purgatory, all go to heaven. Why do 
the priests ask masses, and say them for the relief of 
the souls in purgatory. 

Let us from these proceed to the sum of the esta- 
tions and indulgences granted to the city of Rome, 
which the pope grants likewise to all those that take 
the bull, and fulfil the contents of it. 

Estations, in this place, signify the going from one 
church to another, in remembrance of Christ's being, 
or remaining so long on Mount Calvary, so long in 
the garden, so long on the cross, so long in the 
sepulchre. 

We call also estations, or to walk the estations, to 
go from the first cross to the mount Calvary &c. 
This is a new thing to many of this kingdom, there- 
foi*e, a plain account of that custom among the 
Romans, will not be amiss in this place. 

There is in every city, town and village, a mount 
Calvary out of the gates, in remembrance of the 
Calvary where our Saviour was crucified. There 
are fourteen crosses placed at a distance one from 
another. The first cross is out of the gates, and from 
the first to the second, the Romans reckon so many 
steps or paces, more or less from the second to the 
third, and so on from one to another of the remaining^ 
till they come to the twelfth cross, which is in the 



POPISH CHURCH. 181 

middle of two crosses, which represent two crosses 
which the two malefactors were crucified on each 
side of Christ. They walk these twelve estations in 
remembrance of all the steps and paces our Saviour 
walked from the gates of the city of Jerusalem to 
mount Calvary, where he was crucified. In the first 
estation^ you will see the image of Jesus, with the 
cross on his shoulders, in the second, falling down, 
&c. In the last cross, our last estation of the three 
crosses, Jesus is represented crucified between two 
malefactors. 

Every Friday in the year, the devout people walk 
the estations, and kneel down before every cross, and 
say so many pater nosters, &c., and a prayer for the 
meditation of what did happen to our Jesus at that 
distance. When the weather hinders the people 
from going to the great Calvary, they have another 
in every church, and in the cloisters of the convents, 
and monasteries, and they walk the estations there, 
and especially in lent, there is such a crowd of people 
every Friday in the afternoon, that there is scarcely 
room enough in the highway for all to kneel down. 

On good Friday in the evening, is the great pro- 
cession, at which almost all the poople assist with 
lanterns in their hands. The people, both men and 
women, old and young, go to church in the after- 
noon. The parish minister, dressed in a surplice, 
and a sacredotal cloak on, and a square black cap on 
his head, and the rest of the clergy in their surplices, 
and the reverend father preacher in his habit. This 
last begins a short exhortation to the people, recom- 



182 HISTORY OF THE 

mending to them devotion, humility, and meditation 
of our Saviour's sufFerir.gs ; after he has done, the 
prior of the fraturnity of the blood of Christ, ordereth 
the procession in this manner : First of all, at the 
head of it, a man in a surplice, carrieth the cross of 
the parish, and two boys on each side, with two 
high lanterns, immediately after begins the first es- 
tation of our Saviour, painted in a standard, which 
one of the fraternity carrieth, and the brethren of 
that estation follow him in two lines : and the 
twelve estations ordered m the same manner, follow 
one another. After the estations, there is a man re- 
presenting Jesus Christ, in a Tunica or a Nazarine's 
gown, with a crown of thorns on his head, that 
carrieth on his soldiers a long, heavy cross, and 
another man, representing Simon, of Cirene, behind 
helps the Nazarine to carry the cross. After him 
the preacher, clergy, and parish minister, and after 
them all the people, without keeping any form or 
order. Thus the procession goes out of the church, 
singing a proper song of the passion of Jesus ; and 
when they come to the first cross of the estations of 
Calvary, the procession stops there, and the preacher 
makes an exhortation, and tells what our Saviour 
did suffer till that first step, and making the same 
exhortations in each of the eleven crosses ; when 
they come at the twelfth, the preacher, on the foot 
of the cross which is placed between the two crosses 
of the malefactors, begins the sermon of the passion 
and sufferings of Christ, and when he has done, the 
procession comes back again to the church, and 



POPISH CHURCH. 183 

there the preacher dismisses the people with an'act 
of contrition, which the people repeat after him. 

These are the estations of the holy Calvary ; but 
besides the estations of the holy sepulchre ; that is, 
to visit seven churches, or seven times one church, 
on holy Thursday, when Jesus is in the monument : 
but of these things I shall treat in another place. 

Now, by these foregoing indulgences, and full 
pardon of sins, the pope does not grant to all those 
that take the bull, and fulfil the contents of it (which 
are only to pay for it) any body may easily know a 
list of the days in which any one that visits the 
churches mentioned in it enjoys at Rome all the 
aforesaid faculties, pardon of sins, and indulgences, 
and as you may observe, at the end of the summario, 
that every day of the year, there are, at Rome, many 
indulgences and pardons granted in some church or 
other, to all those that go to visit them. So by the 
grant of the pope, in the bull of Crusade, the same 
indulgences and pardons are given, and in the same 
day) that is every day of the year) to all those that 
take the bull. From this any body may draw the 
same consequence as before, that a man cannot be 
afraid in the Romish church, to go to hell ; he may 
commit every day all villanies in the world, and yet 
every day, having the bull, is sure of getting free and 
full pardon of his sins, and this without the trouble 
of going to confess : for if they will take the pains to 
read the contents of the bull, with a serious mind, 
they will find the truth of what I say. That without 
the trouble of confessing sins, any body obtains full 
pardon of all the crimes he has committed. 



184 HISTORY OP THE 

For the general apostolical commissary, (who has 
the pope's power and authority) says, that he that 
takes the bull, payeth for it, and writes his name in 
it, ipso facto, i. e. already obtains all the indulgences 
and pardon of sins, &c. mentioned in the bull ; and 
he does not say. If he confess, or, if he be a hearty^ 
penitent ; but already, without any limitation or 
reservation, already he enjoys all, and may make 
iLse of all the graces, ^c. So, by these expressions, 
it appears, that a man, taking the bull, paying for it, 
and writing his name in it, may commit murder and 
robbery, &c. and yet obtain every day free and full 
pardon of his sins, without the trouble of confessing 
them to a priest, who if covetous, will ask money for 
absolution, or money for masses, for the relief of the 
souls in purgatory. 

This I must own of my country people, that they 
are kept in so great ignorance by the priests, that I 
might dare to say, that not one of a thousand that 
takes the bull, reads it, but blindly submits to what 
the minister of the parish tells him, without further 
inquiry This is a surprising thing to all the Protest- 
ants ; and it is now to me, but I can give no other 
reasons for their ignorance in point of religion, as 
for the generality, but their bigotry, and blind faith 
in what the preachers and priests tell them; and, 
next to this, that is not allowed to them to read the 
Scripture, nor books of controversy about religion. 

I come now to the days in which every body 
takes a soul out of purgatory. Observe those marked 
with a star, and besides them, there is in every 



POPISH CHURCH. 



1^5 



convent and parish church, at least, one privileged, 
altar, i. e. any body that says five times pater nostre, 
&c., and five times Ave Maria, with Gloria Patria^ 
&c., takes a soul out of purgatory, and this at any 
time and in any day of the year, and not only in 
Spain, by the virtue of the bull, but in France, 
Germany, Italy, and in all the Romon Catholic 
countries where they have no bull of Crusade. Froni 
this, I say, that if there is a purgatory, it must be aii 
empty place, or that it is impossible to find there 
any soul at all, and that the Roman Catholics take 
every year more souls out of it, than can go into it ; 
which I shall endeavor to prove by evident argu- 
ments, grounded on their principles and belief. 

For, first of all, there is in the bull nine day^ in: 
the year in which every living person takes a soul 
out of purgatory, and by this undeniable truth 
among themselves, it appears that every living per- 
son, man, woman, or child, from seven years of age 
and upwards, takes every year nine souls out of 
purgatory. 

Secondly. Every body knows the Roman Catholic's 
opinion, that nobody can be saved out of theiT com- 
munion ; atid by this infallible (as they believe) 
principle, they do not allow any place in purgatory 
to the souls of Protestants, and other people of other 
professions; and so only Roman Catholic souls are 
the proprietors of that place of torment. 

Thirdly. It is undeniable, by the Romans, that 
evet since the -place of purgatory was built up by the 
popes ahd councils, the Roman Catholics have en- 

24 



186 HISTORY OF THE 

joyed the granting of a privileged altar in every 
church, that, by their prayers, the souls of their 
parents or friends may be relieved and delivered out 
of that place. 

Fourthly. That to this granting, the popes have 
been so generous, that they have granted, in such 
days, special privileges to some churches, for all 
those that should visit them, to take souls out of 
purgatory. 

Fifthly. That all the prayers said before such 
altars for such a soul in purgatory, if the soul is out 
of it when the person says the prayers, those prayers 
go to the treasure of the church ; and by this opinion, 
undeniable by them, the treasury of the church is 
well stocked with prayers, and when the pope has a 
mind to grant, at once, a million of prayers, he may: : 
take a million of souls out of purgatory. 

These five principles and observations are incon- 
testable by any of the Roman Catholics. Now let, 
us compute the number of Roman Catholics that are 
alive, and the number of the dead every year. I say, 
compute, that is, suppose a certain number of the 
living and of the dead every year. And I begin 
with the kingdom of Spain, and its dominions, as the., 
only partakers of the privileges granted in the bull-' 
of Crusade. 

First.' Let us suppose, that in the whole dominions 
of Spain, there are about six millions of living 
persons ; I speak of the Roman Catholics : and that 
three millions of those Catholics die ev^ry year; and 
that all their souls go to purgatory ; for though the 



POPISH CHURCH. 187 

mipposition is disadvantageous to my purpose, I will 
allow them more than they can expect. In the first 
place, by reasonable computation, half of the living 
persons do not die every year : but I suppose this, to 
make my argument so much the stronger. Secondly. 
In their opinion, very many of the souls of those that 
die, go to heaven, and some to hell, which is con- 
trary to the bull. By this computation, the three 
millions of people that remain alive, by the bull, take 
out of purgatory, seven and twenty millions of souls 
that very year. For there are nine days, in the bull 
fixed, on which every living person takes one soul 
out of purgatory ; if then, only three millions of 
people die annually, how can the three remaining 
alive take out twenty -seven millions, it being impos- 
sible that there should be more than three millions of 
souls in purgatory that year. And besides this plain 
demonstration, and besides the nine days appointed 
in the bull, according to their belief, and every day 
in the year, and, toties quoties, they pray at a privi- 
leged altar, they take out of purgatory that soul for 
which they pray, or if that soul is not in purgatory, 
any other which they have a mind for, or else the 
prayer goes to the treasure of the church : and so, by 
this addition, we may say, that if, out of three 
millions of living persons, only half a million of people 
pray every day ; this half million take out of purga 
tory, yearly, one hundred and eighty-two millions 
and a half of souls. If they scruple this number, let 
them fix any other living persons, and then multiply 
nine times more the number of souls delivered out of 



188 HISTORY OF THE 

purgatory every year, by virtue of the nine days 
mentioned in the bull ; or by the privileged altars, 
multiply one to three hundred sixty-five souls de- 
livered out of the flames every year, by every living 
person, as I shall demonstrate more plainly hereafter. 

As for France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and 
other Roman Catholic countries, as I said before, 
they have their privileged altars to take a soul out 
of purgatory, toties quoties, a Roman says so many 
pater nosters, and ave marias before them. And so 
use the same multiplication to convince them, that 
there cannot be so many souls in purgatory as they 
deliver out of it every year, or that purgatory of 
course, must be an empty place, &c. 

If they answer to this strong reason, that we must 
suppose for certain, that the souls of many millions 
of people, for many years past, are in purgatory, and 
that there is stock enough taken out of it every year, 
if there were ten times iSiore living persons than there 
are now in the Roman Catholic countries ; I say, that 
the supposition has no room at all, and that it is im- 
possible ; for let us begin at the time when purgatory 
was first found out by the pope, and let us suppose, 
gratis, that there is such a place, which we deny. 

The first year that that imaginary place was 
settled among the Romans, the very same year the 
privileged altars were in fashion. The people that 
were left alive that year took out all the souls of the 
persons dead the same year, and more too, for as the 
new privilege was granted them, every body was 
more charitable in taking the souls of his relations 



POPISH CHURCH. 189 

and friends out of sufferings at so cheap a rate as five 
pater nosters S^c. The next year the same, and so 
on, year by year, till this present time, so that it is 
impossible to believe that there are a greater number 
of souls than of persons dead. 

I say again, that by these principles, sure among 
the Romans, the Catholics only of Spain, and all the 
dominions belonging to it, are enough to deliver out 
of purgatory all the souls of all the Catholics dead, 
from the beginning of the world in Christendom. If 
what they believe were certain, it should be certain 
too, that since the bull is granted to the Catholic kings 
and their dominions, which is since the reign of king 
Ferdinand, the Catholic, only the Spaniards have de- 
livered out of purgatory more souls than persons 
have died since the universal flood : for every living 
person, from that time till this present day, has taken 
out of purgatory, every year, 365 souls by the privi- 
leged altars, and nine more by virtue of the bull. 
Now 1 leave to the curious reader to make use of the 
rule of multiplication, and he will find clear demon- 
strations of my saying. I do not talk now of those 
innumerable souls that are freed from this place 
every day of the year by the masses, leaving this for 
another place. 

Indeed I have searched among the sophistries of 
the Roman Catholics, to see whether I could find 
some reason or answer to this : and I protest, I could 
not find any ; for as I am sure, they will endeavor 
to cloud this work with groundless subterfuges and 
sophistries, I was willing to prevent all sorts of ob- 



190 HISTORY OF THE 

jections, which may be made by them. Only one 
answer, which I may beUeve they will give me, 
comes now into my head, and it is this, that as the 
Romans cannot answer any thing contrary to my 
demonstration, it is to be feared that they will say, 
that I reason and argue as an ignorant, because I do 
not know that the souls in purgatory are fruitful 
beings, that one produces a great many little ones 
every year, I say, it is to be feared, that being press- 
ed, they must come at last to such nosensical, fantas- 
tical, dreaming reasons, to answer to this urgent 
argument. So we may safely conclude, and with a 
Christian confidence say, that if there is such a place 
as purgatory, it must be an empty place, or that it is 
impossible to find there any souls, or that the Roman 
Catholics take every year more souls out of it, than 
can go into it ; all which, being against the evidence 
of natural reason, and computation made, it is a 
dream, fiction, or to say the truth, roguery,,robbery, 
and a cheat of the pope and priest. As for the pope, (if 
the report in the public news be true,) I must beg 
leave to except for a while this present pope, who, 
in his behaviour, makes himself the exception of the 
rule. I say, for a while, for by several instances, 
(as I shall speak of in the third part,) many popes 
have had a good beginning, and a very bad end. 
God enlighten him with his holy spirit, that he may 
bring in all papist countries to our reformation. And 
I pray God Almighty, from the bottom of my heart, 
to give to all the Romans such a light as his infinite 
goodness has been pleased to grant me ; and that ail 



POPISH CHURCH. 191 

my country people, and all those that call themselves 
Roman Catholics, would make the same use of that 
light which I have endeavored to make use of myself, 
to know the corruptions of their church, and to 
renounce them with as firm and hearty resolution as 
I have done myself: And I pray God, who is to be 
my judge, to continue in me the same light, and his 
grace, that I may live and die in the religion I have 
embraced, and to give me the desired comfort of my 
heart, which is to see many of my beloved country 
people come and enjoy the quietness of mind and con- 
science which I enjoy, as to this point of religion, and 
way of salvation ; and I wish I could prevail with them 
to read the bull, which, they believe, is the sancto 
sanctorum, the passport to heaven ; and I am sure 
they would find the contrary, and see that it is only 
a dream, a dose of opium to lull them asleep, and 
keep them always ignorant. That Almighty God 
may grant them and me too all these things, is my 
constant prayer to Him. 



PART III. 

A practical account of their Masses, Privileged Altars, Tran- 
substantiation, and Purgatory. 

I comprise all the four heads in one chapter, because there isr 
a near relation between them all, though I shall speak of themi 
separately, and as distinct articles. 

ARTICLE I. 

Of their Masses. 

The Mass for priests and friars is better, and has 
greater power and virtue than the loadstone, for this 
only draws iron, but that allures and gets to them 
silver, gold, precious stones, and all sorts of fruits of 
the earth ; therefore it is proper to give a description 
of every thing the priests make use of to render the 
mass the most magnificent and respectful thing in 
the world, in the eyes of the people. 

The priest every morning, after he has examined 
his conscience, and confessed his sins, (which they 
call reconciliation,) goes to the vestry and washes 
his hands ; afterwards, he kneels down before an 
image of the crucifix, which is placed on the draws, 
where the ornaments are kept, and says several 
prayers and psahns, written in a book, c^MeAprepara- 
terium. When the priest has done, he gets up, and 
goes to dress himself, all the ornaments being ready 
upon the draws, which are like the table of an altar; 

25 



194 HISTORYOFTHE 

then he takes the Ambito, which is hke an Holland 
handkerchief, and kissing the middle of it, puts it 
round about his neck, and says a short prayer. After 
he takes the Alva, which is a long surplice with 
narrow sleeves, laced round about with fine lace, 
and says another prayer while he puts it on. The 
clerk is always behind to help him. Then he takps 
the Cingulum^ i. e. the girdle^ and says a prayer ; 
after he takes the *S'^o/«, which is a long list of silk, 
with a cross in the middle, and two crosses at the 
ends of it, and says another prayer while he puts it 
on his neck, and crosses it before his breast, and ties 
it with the ends of the girdle. After he takes the 
ManipuluTn, i. e. a short list of the same silk, with 
as many crosses in it, and ties it on the left arm, 
saying a short' prayer. Then he takes the Casulltty 
i. e. a sort of a dress made of three yards of silk stuff, 
a yard wide behind, and something narrower before, 
with a hole in the middle, to put his head through it. 
After he is thus dressed, he goes to the corner of the 
table, and taking the chalice, cleans it with a little 
Holland towel, with which the chalice's mouth is 
covered ; after he puts a large host on the patena, 
i. e. a small silver plate gilt, which serves to cover 
the chalicey and puts on the host a, neat piece of fine 
holland laced all over. Then he covers all with .a 
piece of silk, three quarters of a yard in square. 
After he examines the co^porales, i. e. two pieces of 
fine well-starched holland, with lace round about ; 
the first is three quarters of a yard square, and the 
second half a yard ; and folding them both, puts them 



POPISHCHURCH. 195 

in a flat cover, which he puts on the chalice, and 
taking a squared cap, if he is a secular priest, puts it 
on his head, and having the chalice in his ^hands, 
makes a great bow to the crucifix, says a prayer, and,- 
goes out of the vestry to the altar, where he designs 
to say mass. This is, as to the private mass. Now 
before I proceed to the great mass, which is always 
sung, it is fit to talk of the riches of their ornaments. 

As in the Romish church are several festivals, viz. 
those of our Saviour Christ, Christmas, Circumcision, 
Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Penticostes, and Trans- 
figuration : Those of the Holy Cross j those of the 
blessed Virgin Mary ; those of the angels, apostles, 
martyrs, confessors, virgins, &c. So there are several 
sorts of ornaments, and of divers colors ; white for 
all the festivals of Jesus Christ, except penticostes, in 
which the ornaments are red; white also for the 
festivals of the Virgin Mary, confessors, and virgins ; 
red for martyrs; violet color for advent and lent; 
and black for the masses of the dead. 

The same rule is observed in the front of the altar's 
table, or ara altaris, which are always adorned with 
hangings the color of the day's festivals. In every 
parish church and convent, there are many ornaments 
of each of the said colors, all of the richest silks, with 
silver^ gold and embroidery. There are many long 
cloaks or palia of all sorts of colors, several dozens 
of alvas, or surplices of the finest holland, with the 
finest laces round about them, chalice of silver, the 
inside of the cup gilt, many of gold set with dia- 
monds and precious stones. There is one in the 



196 HISTORY OF THB 

cathedral of St. Salvator, in the city of Saragossa^ 
which weighs five pounds of gold, set all over with 
diamonds, and is valued at 15,000 crowns, and this 
is not accounted an extraordinary one. 

A possenet of silver, gilt all over, to keep the holy 
water and hysop, with a silver handle, to be used in 
holy days at church, is an indispensable thing almost 
in every church : as also two big candlesticks four 
feet high, for the two accolits or assistants to the 
great mass. In several churches there are two 
ciriales, i. e. big candlesticks five feet high all of sil- 
ver ; which weigh two hundred pounds in some 
churches, and another bigger than these for the 
blessed candle on candlemas day. Six other middle 
silver candlesticks, which serve on the ara or altar's 
table, silver, and (in many churches) gold bottles 
and plate to keep the water and wine that is used 
in the mass, a small silver bell for the same use, an 
incensary, and stand for the missal or masss-book, 
and another stand of silver two feet high, for the 
deacon and sub-deacon to read on it the epistle and 
gospel. 

There is also in the great altar, the custodia, i. e. 
a figure of the sun and beams made of gold, and 
many of them set with precious stones to keep in the 
centre of it the great consecrated host, in the middle 
of two crystals : The foot of the custodia is made of 
the same metal ; it is kept in a gilt tabernacle, and 
shown to the people on several occasions, as I will 
mention in another place. 

Besides this rich custodia, there is a large silver 



POPISH CHURCH. 197 

or gold cup kept in the same, or another tabernacle 
on another altar, which is to keep the small conse- 
crated wafers for the communicants. Before those 
tabernacles a silver lamp is burning night and day. 
The altars are adorned on several festivals with the 
silver bodies of several saints, some as large as a 
man, some half bodies with crowns or mitres set 
with precious stones. 

I could name several churches and convents, 
where I saw many rarities and abundance of rich 
ornaments, but this being a thing generally known 
by the private accounts of many travellers, I shall 
only give a description of the rarities and riches of 
the church of the lady del Pilar, and that of St. Sal- 
vator, in the city of Saragossa ; because I never met 
with any book which did mention them, and the 
reason, as I believe, is, because foreigners do not 
travel much in Spain, for want of good conveniences 
on the roads, and for the dismal journey in which 
they cannot see a house, sometimes in tAventy miles, 
and sometimes in thirty. 

In the Cathedral church of St. Salvator, there are 
forty-five, prebendaries, besides the dean, arch-dea- 
con, chanter, and sixty-six beneficiates, six priests 
and a master, and twelve boys for the music, and 
sixty clerks and under clerks, and sextons. The 
church contains thirty chapels, large and small, and 
the great altar, thirty feet high and ten broad, all of 
marble stone, with many bodies of saints of the 
same, and in the middle of it the transfiguration of 
our Saviour in the mount Tabor, with the apostles 



198 HISTORYOFTHE 

all represented in marble figures. The front of the 
altar's table is made of solid silver, the frame gilt, and 
adorned with precious stones. In the treasure of the 
church they keep sixteen bodies of saints of pure silver 
among which, that of St. Peter Argues, (who was a 
prebendary in the same church, and was murdered 
by the Saracens,) is adorned with rich stones of a 
great value. Besides these they keep twelve half 
silver bodies of other saints, and many relics set 
with gold and diamonds. Forty-eight silver candle- 
sticks for the altar's table, two large ones, and the 
third for the blessed candle, 300 pound weight each : 
thirty-six small silver candlesticks ; and six made of 
solid gold for the great festivals. Four possenets of 
silver, two of solid gold, with the handles of hysops 
of the same. Two large crosses, one of silver, the 
other of gold, ten feet high, to carry before the pro- 
cessions. Ten thousand ounces of silver in plate, 
part of gilt, to adorn the two corners of the altar on 
great festivals, and when the archbishop officiates, 
and says the great mass. Thirty-three silver lamps, 
of which the smallest is an hundred and fifty pounds 
weight, and the largest, which is before the great 
altar, gilt all over, is six hundred and thirty pounds 
weight. Abundance of rich ornaments for priests, 
of inexpressible value. Eighty-four chalices, twenty 
of pure gold, and sixty-four of silver, gilt on the 
inside of the cup ; and the rich chalice, which only 
the arch-bishop makes use of in his pontificial dress. 
All these things are but trifles in comparison with 
the great custodia they make use of to carry the 



:P0PisH CHURCH. 199 

great host through the streets on the festival of 
Corpus Christi: This was a present made to the 
cathedral by the arch-bishop of Sevil who had been 
prebendary of that church before. The circumfer- 
ence of the sun and beams is as big as the wheel of 
a coach ; at the end of each beam there is a star. 
T^he centre of the sun, where the great host is placed 
between two crystals, set with large diamonds ; the 
beams are all of solid gold set with several precious 
stones, and in the middle of each star, a rich emerald 
set in gold. The crystal with the great host is fixed 
in the mouth of the rich chalice, on a pedestal of 
silver, all gilt over which is three feet high. The 
whole custodia is fiVQ hundred pounds weight ; and 
this is placed on a gilt base, which is carried by 
twelve priests, as I shall tell you in another article. 
Several goldsmiths have endeavored to value this 
piece, but nobody could set a certain sum upon it. 
One Said that a million of pistoles was too little. 
And how the Archbishop could gather together so 
many precious stones, every body was surprised at, 
till we heard that a brother of his grace died in Peru, 
and left him great sums of money, and a vast 
quantity of diamonds and precious stones. 

I come now to speak of the treasure and rarities 
of the Lady del Pilar. In the church of this lady 'is 
the same number of prebendaries and beneficiates, 
musicians, clerks, and sextons, as iu the Catholic 
Church of St. Salvator, and as to the ornaments and 
silver plate, they are very much the same, except 
only that of the great custodia, which is not so rich. 



*00 HISTORY OP THE 

But as to the chapel of the blessed Virgin, there isy 
without comparison, more in it than in the cathedral, 
I shall treat of the image in another chapter. Now 
as to her riches, I will give you an account as far as^ 
I remember, for it is impossible for every thing ta be 
kept in the memory of man. 

In ths little chapel, where the image is on a pillar^ 
are four angels, as large and tall as a man, with a 
big candlestick, each of which is made wholly of 
silver gilt. The front of two altars is solid silver^ 
with gilt frames, set with rich stones. Before the. 
image there is a lamp, (as they call it,) a spider of 
crystal, in which twelve wax candles burn night and 
day : The several parts of the spider are set with 
gold and diamonds, which was a present made to the 
Virgin by Don John, of Austria, who also left her in 
his last will, his own heart, which accordingly was 
brought to her, and is kept in a gold box set with 
large diamonds, and which hangs before the image. 
There is a thick grate round about the little chapel, 
of solid silver : Next to this is another chapel to say 
mass in before the image ; and the altar-piece of it is 
all made of silver, from the top to the altar's table, 
which is of jasper stone, and the front of silver, with 
the frame gilt, set with precious stones. The rich 
crown of the Virgin is twenty-five pounds weight, 
set all over with large diamonds. Besides this rich 
one, she has six pounds more of pure gold, set with 
rich diamonds and emeralds, the smallest of which is 
worth half a million. 

The roses of diamonds and other precious stones 



POPISH CHURCH, 201 

she has to adorn her mantle, are innumerable ; for 
though she is dressed every day in the color of the 
churches festival, and never uses twice the same 
mantle, which is of the best stuff, embroidered with 
gold ; she has new roses of precious stones, every 
day for three years together ; she has three hundred 
and sixty -five necklaces of pearls and diamonds, and 
six chains of gold set with diamonds, which are put 
on her mantle on the great festivals of Christ. 

In the room of her treasure are innumerable heads, 
arms, legs, eyes, and hands, made of gold and silver, 
presented to her by the people, which have been 
cured as they believe, by miracle, through the 
Virgin's divine power and intercessions. In this 
second chapel are one hundred and ninety-five silver 
lamps, in three lines, one over the other. The lamps 
of the lowest rank are bigger than those of the second, 
and these are bigger than those of the third. The 
five lamps facing the image are about five hundred 
pounds weight each, the sixty of the same line four 
hundred pounds weight, and those of the third line, 
one hundred pounds weight. Those of the second 
line are two hundred pounds weight. Tliere is the 
image of the Virgin in the treasure, made in the 
shape of a woman five feet high, all of piu-e silver, 
set with precious stones^ and a crown of gold set 
with diamonds, and this image is to be carried in a 
public procession the days appointed. I will speak 
of the miraculous image in the following chapter. 

I remember that when the Rt. Hon. Lord Stanhope, 
then General of the English forces, was in Saragossa, 

26 



202 HISTORY OF THE 

after the battle, he went to see the treasure of the 

lady of Pilar, which was shown to him, and I heard 

him say these words : IJ all the kings of Europe 

should gather together all their treasures and 

precious stones, they could not buy half of the riches 

of this treasury. And by this expression of so wise 

and experienced a man, every body may judge of 
the value. 

After this short account of the ornaments to be 
used at mass, and the incomparable treasures of the 
Romish church, I proceed to a description of the great 
or high masses, their ceremonies, and of all the 
motions and gestures the priests make in the cele- 
bration of a mass. 

Besides the priest, there must be a deacon, sub- 
deacon, two acoliti, i. e. two to carry the large 
candlesticks before the priest, and one to carry the 
incensary. The incenser helps the priest when he 
dresses himself in the vestry, and the two acoliti 
help the deacon and subdeacon. When all three are 
dressed, the incenser and the two acoliti in their 
surplices, and large collars round about their necks^ 
made of the same stuff as that of the priest's casullay 
and deacon and subdeacon's almatices, i. e. a sort of 
carulla, with open sleeves, I say, the incenser puts 
fire in the incensary, and the acoliti takes the candle- 
sticks with the wax candles lighted, and the sub- 
deacon takes the chalice and corporals, and so 
making a bow to the crucifix in the vestry, they go 
out into the church to the great altar. There are 
commonly three steps to go up to the altar, and the 



POPISHCHURCH. 203 

priest and five assistants kneel down at the first step, 
then leaving the incense and acoliti to stay there, the 
priest, deacon and subdeacon go up to the altar's 
table, and all kneel down there again. The sub- 
deacon leaves the chalice on a little table next to the 
altar's table at the right hand, and then they turn 
l^ack again to the highest step, and kneeling down 
a^ain, the priest, deacon, and subdeacon get up, 
leaving the incenser and acoliti on their knees, and 
begin the mass by a psalm, and after it the priest says 
the general confession of sins, to which the deacon 
and subdeacon answer Misereatur tui, Sfc. Then 
they say the general confession themselves, and after 
it the priest absolves them, and saying another 
psalm, they go up again to the altar's table, which 
the priest kisses, and he and the two assistants kneel 
down, and rise again. Then the incenser brings the 
incensary and incense, and the priest puts in three 
spoonsfuU of it, and taking the incensary from the 
deacon's hands, he incenses three times the taberna- 
cle of the Eucharistia, and goes twice to each side 
of it, he kneels down then, and the deacon takes up 
the hem of the priest's casuUa, and so goes from the 
middle of the altar to the right corner, incensing the 
table, and returning from the corner to the middle, 
then kneels down and gets up, and goes to the left 
cornier, and from the left goes again to the right 
corner, and giving the incensary to the deacon, he 
^HaijQienses three times the priest, and gives the incen- 
j§ary tQ the incenser, and this incenses twice the 
deacon. The assistants always follow the priest, 
making the motions that he does. 



204 HISTORY OP THB 

The incenser has the missal or mass-book ready 
on the altar's table at the right corner, and so the 
priest begins the psalm of the mass : all this while 
the m^^sicians are singing the beginning of the mass 
till kyrie eleijon ; and when they have finished, the 
priest sings these three words : Gloria in excelsis 
deo. And the musicians sing the rest. While they 
are singing, the priest, deacon, and subdeacon, 
making a bow to the tabernacle, go to sit on three 
rich chairs at the right hand of the ara or altar^s 
table ; and as soon as the music has ended the gloria, 
they go to the middle of the table, kneel down, and 
get up, and the priest kissing the table turns to the 
people, opening his arms, and says, in Latin, The 
Lord be with you, to which, and all other expres- 
sions the music and the people answer ; then turns 
again his face to the altar, kneels down, gets up, and 
the assistants doing the same, the priest goes to the 
Tight corner, and says the collect for the day, and 
two, or sometimes five or six prayers in eommemo- 
ration of the saints ; and last of all, a prayer for the 
pope, king and bishop of the diocess, against heretics, 
infidels and enemies of their religion or the holy 
€atholic faith. 

Then the subdeacon, taking the book of the 
epistles and gospels, goes down to the lowest step, 
and sings the epistle, which ended, he goes up to the 
priest, kisses his hand, leaves the book of the gospels 
on the little table, takes the missal or mass-book, 
and carries it to the left corner. Then the priest goe% 
to the middle, kneels down, kisses the altar, says a 



fOFISH CHURCH. 205 

pTayer, and goes to say the gospel, while the music 
is singing a psalm, which they call Tr actus gradualism 
The gospel ended, the priest goes again to the middle, 
kneels down, rises and kisses the table, and turns 
half to the altar, and half to the people, and the 
deacon, giving him the incense-box, he puts in three 
spoonsfull of it, and blesses the incense : The incen- 
ser takes it from the deacon, who taking the book of 
the gospel, kneels down before the priest and asks his 
blessing. The priest gives the blessing, and the 
deacon kisses his hand, and then he goes to the left 
corner and sings the gospel, viz : the left corner, as 
to the people of the church, but as to the altar, it is 
the right. While the deacon sings the gospel, the 
priest goes to the opposite corner and there stands 
till the gospel is ended : Then the deacon carrieth 
to him the book open, and the priest kissing it, goes 
to the middle of the table, and kneeling, rising, 
.kissing the table, the assistants doing the same, he 
turns his face to the people, openeth his arms, and 
says again. The Lord be with you. Then he turns 
again before the altar, and says. Let us pray. The 
music begins the offertory, when there is no creed to 
be sung, for there is no creed in all their festivals. 

While the musicians sing the offertory, the deacon 
prepares the chalice, that is, he puts the wine in it, 
and after him, the subdeacon pours in three drops of 
water, and cleaning nicely the mouth of the cup, the 
deacon gives it to the priest, who takes it in his hands, 
and offering it to the Eternal, sets it on the clean 
eorporales, and covers it with a small piece of fine 



206 HISTORY OP THE 

hoUand : then he says a prayer, and putting incense 
in the incensary as before, kneels, and then rising, 
incences the table, as is said, which done, the sub- 
deacon pours water on the priest's fore-fingers, which 
he washes and wipes with a clean towel, and after 
returns to the middle of the table, and after some 
prayers, he begins to sing the preface, which ended, 
he says some other prayers. Before the consecration, 
he joins his two hands, and puts them before his face, 
shuts his eyes, and examines his conscience for twQ 
or three minutes ; then opening his eyes and arms, 
says a prayer, and begins the consecration. At this 
time every body is silent, to hear the words, and 
when the priest comes to pronounce them, he says 
with a loud voice, in Latin, Hoc est enim corpus 
Tneum. Then he leaves the consecrated Host on the 
ara, kneels down, and getting up, takes again the 
host with his two thumbs and two foremost fingers, 
and lifts it up as high as he can, that every body may 
see it, and leaving it again on the same ara, kneels 
down, and then rising up, takes the chalice, and after 
he has consecrated the wine, leaves it on the ara, 
and making the same motions and bows, he lifts it 
up as he did the host, and placing it on the ara, 
covers it, and with the same gestures, he says a 
prayer in remembrance of all the saints, all parents, 
relations, friends, and of all the souls in purgatory, 
but especially of that soul for whom the sacrifice of 
that mass is offered to God by Jesus Christ himself, 
I say, by Jesus Christ himself, for as Chrysostom and 



POPISH C H t R C H. 1^07 

Amb.* say, the priest, not only representing Christ, 
hut in the act of celebrating and consecrating is the 
very same Christ himself. Thus it is in the cate- 
chism published by decree of the council of Trent.t 
Between this and the sumption, or the taking of 
the host, and drinking of the cup, the priest says 
some prayers, and sings Our Father, in Latin, 
kneeling down several times. — ^When he comes to 
th6 communion, he breaks the host by the middle, 
leaves one part on the table, and breaks off the other 
half, a little piece, and puts it into the cup ; this done, 
he eats the two half host, and drinks the wine ; and 
for fear any small fragments should remain in the 
cup, the deacon puts in more wine, and the priest 
drinks it up, and going to the corner with the chalice, 
the sub-deacon pours water upon the priest's two 
thumbs and foremost fingers, and being well washed, 
goes to the middle of the table, and drinks up the 
water. Then the deacon takes the cup and wipes 
it, and putting on every thing, as when they came to 
the altar, gives it to the sub-deacon, who leaves it 
on the little table near the altar. After this is done, 
the priest, kneeling and getting, up, and turning to 

* Horn. 2. in 2d Timoth. and Horn, de proud, Judse Amb. lib. 
4, de sacram, C. 4. 

•j- Sed unus etiam, atque idem Sacerdos est Christus Dominus. 
Nam Ministri qui Sacrificium faciunt, non suam sed Christi 
personam accipiunt, cum ejus Corpus et Sanguinem conficiunt, 
id quod et ipsius Consecrationis Verbis ostenditur, Sacerdos 
inquit: Hoc est Corpus meum, personam videlicet Christi 
Domini gerens, panis et vini Substantiam in Teran ejus Corporis 
et Sangunis Substantiam convertit. 



208 HIITORY OF THK 

the people and opening his arms, says, The Lord 5e 
with you, and two or more prayers ; and last of all, 
the gospel of St. John, with which he ends the mass, 
so in the same order they went out of the vestry, 
they return into it again, saying a prayer for the 
souls in purgatory. After the priest : is undrest, the 
incenser and acoliti kneel down before him, and kiss 
his right hand : Then they undress themselves, and 
the priest goes to the humiliatory to give God thanks 
for all his benefits. 

The same ceremonies, motions and gestures the 
priest makes in a private mass, but not so many in 
a mass for the dead. They have proper masses for 
the holy trinity, for Christ, the Virgin Mary, angels,, 
apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and for the dead ; 
the ornaments for this last are always black. This 
is a true description of the ceremonies of the mass : 
Now let us give an account of the means the priests 
make use of for the promoting of this sacrifice, and 
increasing their profit. 

The custom, or rule for public masses, which are 
always sung, is this : the person that goes to the 
clerk and asks a mass to be sung, carries at least six 
wax candles, which burn upon the altar's table, 
while the mass lasts, and a good offering for the 
priest, and besides that, must give the charity, which 
is a crown, and the same for a mass sung for the dead j 
but if a person have a mind to have a mass sung, such 
or such a day forever, he must give, or settle upon the 
chapter or community, a pistole every year> and 
these are called settled masses, and there are of these 



POPISH CHURCH. 209 

masses in every parish, church and convent, more 
than the priests and friars can say in a year ; for 
ever since the comedy of the mass began to be acted 
on the stage of the church, the bigots of it succes- 
sively have settled masses every year ; the priests 
and friars then cannot discharge their conscience, 
while they keep the people ignorant of the truth of 
the matter. 

Thus they blind the people : Suppose to be in a 
convent one hundred friars and priests, and that in 
that convent are two hundred private and public 
masses settled every day, the charity of one hundred 
is a manifest fraud and robbery, for they receive it, 
and cannot say the masses. And nevertheless, they 
accept every day new foundations and settlements 
of masses; for if the people ask the dean, or prior, 
whether there is a vacancy for a mass, they will 
never answer no ; and this way they increase the 
yearly rents continually. 

This is to be understood of the chapter or commu- 
nity, and I must say, that the chapters, and parish 
churches, are not so hard upon the people as the 
convents of friars are, though they are not so rich as 
the communities : The reason is, because a parish 
priest has during his life, his tithes and book money. 
But a prior of a convent commands that community 
only three years; therefore, while the office lasts, 
they endeavor to make money of every thing. I 
knew several priors very rich after their priorship ; 
and how did they get riches, but by blinding and 
cheating the people, exacting money for masses 

27 



210 HISTORY OP THE 

which never were said, nor sung, nor ever will 
be? 

As to the private priests and friars, and their 
cheating ways, there is so much to be said on them 
that I cannot, in so small a book as this, give a full 
account of all ; so I shall only tell the most usual 
methods they have to heap up riches by gathering 
thousands of masses every year. 

Observe first of all, that if a priest is a parish min- 
ister, or vicar, he has every day of the year certain 
families, for whose souls, or the souls of their ances- 
tors, he is to celebrate and offer the sacrifice of the 
mass. And if he is a friar, he has but one mass 
every week left to him, for six days he is obliged to 
say mass for the community : So by this certain rule, 
a parish minister cannot in conscience receive any 
money for masses, when he knows he cannot say 
more masses than those settled for every day in the 
year ; and by the same rule, a friar cannot in 
conscience receive more money than for fifty-two 
masses every year, and consequently those that 
receive more are deceivers of the poor ignorant peo- 
ple, robbers of their money, and commit sacrilege in 
so doing. 

And that they take more than they in justice can, 
shall appear in several instances. 

First ; I never saw either secular or regular priests 
refuse the charity for a mass, when a christian soul 
asked them to say it ; and I knew hundreds of priests 
mighty officious in asking masses from all sorts of 
people. 

Secondly : In all families whatsoever, if any one 



POPISH CHURCH. 211 

is dangerously sick, there are continually friars and 
priests waiting till the person dies, and troubling the 
chief of the family with petitions for masses for the 
soul of the deceased ; and if he is rich, the custom is, 
to distribute among all the convents and parishes 
one thousand, or more masses to be said the day of 
burial. When the Marquis of St. Martin died, his 
lady distributed a hundred thousand masses, for 
which she paid the very same day five thousand 
pounds sterling, besides one thousand masses, which 
she settled upon all the convents and parish churches, 
to be said every year forever, which amounts to a 
thousand pistoles a year forever. 

Thirdly: The friars, most commonly, are rich, 
and have nothing of their own (as they say); some 
are assisted by their parents, but these are very few. 
They give two thirds of whatever they get to the 
community ; and in some strict orders the friars 
ought to give all to the convent ; nevertheless, they 
are never without money in their pockets, for all 
sorts of diversions ; and it is a general observation, 
that a friar at cards is a resolute man; for as he does 
iiot work to get money, or is sure of getting more if 
he loose, he does not care to put all on one card ; 
therefore gentlemen do not venture to play with 
them, so they are obliged to play with one another. 

I saw several friars who had nothing in the world 
but the allowance of their community, and the 
charity of fifty-two masses a year, venture on the 
card fifty pistoles ; another loose 200 pistoles in half 
an hour's time, and the next day have money 



212 HISTORY OP THE 

enough to play. And this is a thing so well known, 
that many of our officers that have been in spain, 
can certify the truth of it, as eye-witnesses. 

Now, as to the method they have to pick up money 
for so many masses ; they do not tell it but as I never 
was bound not to discover it, and the discovery of it, I 
hope, will be very useful to the Roman Catholics, 
though disadvantageous to priests and friars, I think 
myself obliged, in conscience, to reveal this never- 
revealed secret, for it is for the public good, not only 
of Protestants, who by this shall know thoroughly 
the cheats of the Romish priests, but of the Roman 
Catholics too, who bestow their money for nothing 
to a people that make use of it to ruin their souls 
and bodies. 

The thing is this, that the friars are said to have a 
privilege from the pope (I never saw such a privi- 
lege myself, though I did all my endeavors to search 
and find it out) of a centenaria missa, i. e. a brief, 
where the pope grants them the privilege of saying 
one mass for a hundred; which privilege is divulged 
among priests and friars, who keep it a secret among 
themselves: so that as they say, one mass is equivalent 
to a hundred masses. I did not question when I 
was in the communion, that the pope could do that 
and more, but I was suspicious of the truth of such 
a grant. Now observe that by this brief, every friar, 
having for himself fifty-two masses free every year, 
and one mass being as good as a hundred, he may 
get the charity of 5200 masses, and the least charity 
for every mass being two reals of plate, i. e. fourteen 



POPISH CHURCH. 213 

pence of our money, he may get near 300 pounds a 
year. 

The secular priests, by this brief of centenaria 
snissa, have more masses than the private friars ; for 
though they have 365 settled masses to say in a year, 
they have, and may get the charity of ninety-nine 
masses every day, which comes to 3,006,135 masses 
every year. In the convents that have 120 friars, 
and some 400, the prior, having six masses every 
week from each of his friars, by the same rule, the 
prior may have millions of millions of masses. 

Hear now, how they do amuse the credulous 
people : If a gentleman, or gentlewoman, or any 
other person goes to church, and desires one mass 
to be said for such or such a soul, and to be present 
at it, there is always a friar ready, from six in the 
morning, till one, to say mass. He takes the charity 
for it, and he goes to say it, which he says for that 
soul, as I say now : For till such time, as he gets 
the charity of a hundred masses, which is above five 
pounds sterling, he will not say his own mass, or the 
mass for him. And so the rest of the friars do, and 
many priests too. The person that has given the 
charity, and has heard the mass, goes home fully 
satisfied that the mass has been said for him, or to 
his intention. 

As to the communities : If somebody dieth, and 
the executors of the testament go to a father prior, 
and beg of him to say a thousand masses, he gives 
them a receipt, whereby the masses are said already ; 
for he makes them believe that he has more masses 



214 HISTORY OP T H^ 

said already by his friars to his own intention, and 
that out of the number he appUes 1000 for the soul 
of the dead person ; so the executors upon his word 
take the receipt of the masses, which they want to 
show to the Vicar General, who is to visit the testa- 
ment, and see every spiritual thing ordered in it, 
accomplished accordingly. 

This custom of asking money for masses is not 
only among the friars, but among the beat as, nuns, 
and whores too, for a beata, with an affected air of 
sanctity goes up and down to visit the sick, and asks 
beforehand many masses from the heads of families, 
alleging that by her prayers and so many masses, 
the sick may be recovered and restored to his former 
health ; but these, if they get money for masses, they 
give it to their spiritual confessors, who say them as 
the beata ordereth. And according to their custom 
and belief, there is no harm at all in so doing. The 
evil is in the nuns, who get every where abundance 
of masses, on pretence they have priests and friars 
of their relations, who want the charity of masses. 
And what do they with the money ? Every nun 
having a Devoto, or gallant to serve her, desireth him 
to say so many masses for her, and to give her a 
receipt ; he promises to do it, but he never doth say 
the masses, though he giveth a receipt : so the nun 
keeps the money, the friar is paid by her in an 
unlawful way, the people are cheated, and the souls 
in purgatory (if there was such a place) shall remain 
there forever, for want of relief. 

But_the worst of all is, that a public, scandalous 



POPISH CHURCH. 215 

woman will gather together a number of masses, on 
pretence that she has a cousin in such a convent, who 
wants masses, i. e. the charity for them. And what 
use do they make of them ? — This is an abomination 
to the Lord. They have many friars who visit them 
unlawfully, and pay for it in masses ; so the woman 
keeps the money in payment of her own and their 
sins, gets a receipt from the friars, and these never 
say the masses ; for how can we believe that such 
men can offer the holy sacrifice (as they call the 
mass) for such a use ? And if they do it, which is, 
in all human probability, impossible, who would not 
be surprised at these proceedings? Every body 
indeed. 

There is another custom in the church of Rome, 
which brings a great deal of profit to the priests and 
friars, viz. the great masses of brotherhoods, or fra- 
ternities. In every parish chmrch, and especially in 
every convent of friars and nuns, there is a number 
of these fraternities, i. e. corporations of tradesmen ; 
and every corporation has a saint for their advocate 
or patron, viz. the corporation of shoe-makers has 
for an advocate St. Chrispin and Chrispinia: the 
Butchers St. Bartholomew, &c. and so of the rest. 
There is a prior of the corporation, who celebrates 
the day of their advocate with a solemn mass, music, 
candles, and after all, an entertainment for the 
members of the fraternity, and all the friars of the 
community. To this the corporation gives eight 
dozen of white wax candles to illuminate the altar 
of their patron, when the solemn mass is sung, and 



216 HISTORY OP THE 

whatever remains of the candles goes to the convent. 
The prior payeth to the community twenty crowns^ 
for the solemn mass, and ten crowns to the musicians. 
The day following the corporation gives three dozen 
yellow candles, and celebrates an anniversary, and 
have many masses sung for the relief of their 
brethren's souls in purgatory ; for every mass they 
pay a crown. And besides all these, the corporation 
has a mass settled every Friday, which is to be sung^ 
for the relief of the brethren's souls, for which and 
candles, the convent receiveth six crowns every 
Friday. There is not one church nor convent with- 
out two or three of these corporations every week : 
for there are saints enough in the church for it, and 
by these advocates of the friars, rather than of the 
members of the corporation, every body may form 
a right judgment of the riches the priests and friars 
get by these means. 

One thing I cannot pass by, though it has no 
relation with the main subject of the mass ; and this 
is, that after the solemn mass is finished, the prior of 
the corporation, with his brethren, and the prior of 
the convent, with his friars, go all together to the 
refectory or common hall, to dinner, there they make 
rare demonstrations of joy, in honor of the advocate 
of that corporation. The prior of the convent makes 
a short speech before dinner, recommending to them 
to eat and drink heartily, for after they have paid all 
the honor and reverence to their advocate that is 
due, they ought to eat, and drink, and be merry ; so 
they drink till they are happy, though not drunk. 



POPISH CHURCH. 217 

I heard a pleasant story, reported in town, from a 
faithful person, who assured me he saw, himself, a 
friar come out of the refectory, at eight at night, and 
as he came out of the convent's gate, the moon 
shining that night, and the shadow of the house 
being in the middle of the street, the merry friar 
thinking that the light of the moon, in the other half 
part of the street, was water, he took off his shoes 
and stockings, and so walked till he reached the 
shadow ; and being asked by my friend the meaning 
of such extravagant folly, the friar cried out, a mi- 
racle, a miracle ! The gentleman thought that the 
friar was mad : but he cried the more, a miracle ! 
a miracle ! — Where is the miracle ? (the people 
that came to the windows asked him ;) / came this 
minute through this river, (said he) and I did not 
wet the soles of my feet; and then he desired the 
neighbors to come and be witnesses of the miracle. 
In such a condition the honor of the advocate of that 
day did put the reverend friars; and this and the 
like effects such festivals occasion, both in the mem- 
bers of the convents and corporation. 

Now I come to the means and persuasions the 
friars make use of for the extolling and praising this 
inestimable sacrifice of the mass, and the great igno- 
rance of the people in believing them. First of all, 
as the people know the debaucheries and lewd lives 
of many friars and priests, sometimes they are loath 
to desire a sinful friar to say mass for them, thinking 
that his mass cannot be so acceptable to God Al- 
mighty as that which is said by a priest of good 

28 



218 HISTORY OF THE 

morals : So far the people are illuminated by nature j 
but to this, priests and friars make them believe, that 
though a priest be the greatest sinner in the world, 
the sacrifice is of the same efficacy with God, since 
it is the sacrifice made by Christ on the Cross for all 
sinners ; and that it was so declared by the pope, 
and the council of Trent. 

Put it together with what the same council 
declares, that the priest doth not only represent 
Christ when he offereth the sacrifice, but that, he is 
the very person of Christ at that time, and that 
therefore David calls them Christs by these words : 
Nolite tan^ ere Christos meos, execrable thing ! 
If the priest is the very Christ in the celebration of 
mass, how can he at the same time be a sinner ? It 
being certain that Christ knew no sin : and if that 
Christ Priest, offering the sacrifice, is in any actual 
moral sin, how can the sacrifice of the mass, which 
is (as to them) the same sacrifice Christ did offer to 
his eternal Father on the cross, be efficacious to the 
expiation of the sins of all people ? For, in the 
first place, that sacrifice offered by a Priest-Christ, in 
an actual mortal sin, cannot be an expiation of the 
sin by which the priest is spiritually dead. Secondlyy 
if the Christ-Priest is spiritually dead by that mortal 
sin, how can such a priest offer a lively spiritual 
sacrifice ? — ^We must conclude then, that the priests,, 
by such blasphemous expressions, not only deceive 
the people, but rob them of their money, and commit 
a high crime, but that the sacrifice he offers is really 
of no effect or efficacy, to the relief of the souls ia 
the pretended purgatory. 



^ POPISH CHURCH. 219 

IFrom what has been said, it appears that the 
priests and friars make use of whatever means they 
can to cheat the people, to gratify their passions, and 
increase their treasure. For what cheat, fraud, and 
roguery, can be greater than this of the centenaria 
TTiissa with which they suck up the money of poor 
and rich, without performing wliat they promise ? 

If the pope's privilege for that hundred Tnass was 
really true, natural reason shows, it was against the 
public good, and therefore ought not to be made use 
of : for by it, friars and priests will never quench 
their thirst of money and ambition, till they draw to 
them the riches of Christendom, and by these means, 
they will wrong the supposed souls in purgatory, 
and ruin their own too. Decency in the sacerdotal 
ornaments is agreeable to God our Lord, but vanity 
and profaneness is an abomination before him. Of 
what use can all the riches of their churches and 

ornaments be ? To make the sacrifice of the mass 
more efficacious, it cannot be for ; the efficacy of it 

proceeds from Christ himself, who made use of 
different ornaments than those the priests make use 
of. Nor is it to satisfy their own ambition, for they 
could get more by saying thenii ; it is only to make 
Mistress Mass the more admired, and gain the whole 
people to be her followers and courtiers. 

that the Roman laity would consider the weight 
of these Christian observations, and if they will not 
believe them because they are mine, I heartily beg 
of them all, to make pious and serious reflections 
upon themselves, to examine the designs of the priests 



220 HISTORY OP THE 

and friars, to mind their lives and conversations ; to 
observe their works : to cast up accounts every year, 
and see how much of their substance goes to the 
clergy and church for masses. Sure I am, they will 
find out the ill and ambitious designs of their spiritu- 
al guides. They will experience their lives not at 
all (most commonly,) answerable to their characters, 
and sacerdotal functions ; and more, their own sub- 
stances and estates diminished every year. Many 
of their families corrupted by the wantonness, their 
understandings blinded by the craft, their souls in 
the way to hell, by the wicked doctrines, and their 
bodies under suffering by the needless impositions of 
priests and friars. 

They will find also, that the pomp and brightness 
of a solemn mass, is only vanity to amuse the eyes, 
and a cheat to rob the purse. That the centenaria 
missa never known to them before, is a trick and 
invention of priests and friars, to delude and deceive 
them, and by that means impoverish and weaken 
them, and make themselves masters of all. 

They will come at last to consider and believe, 
that the Roman Catl^olic congregations, ruled and 
governed by priests and friars, do sin against the 
Lord, i. e. the spiritual heads do commit abomina- 
tion before the Lord, and that they cannot prosper 
here, nor hereafter, if they do not leave off their 
wicked ways. Pray read the fifth chapter, the 
seventeenth verse, and the following, of Judith, and 
you shall find the ease and the truth of my last pro- 
position. While (says he) these people sinned not 



POPISH CHtTRCH. 221 

h^ore their God, they prospered, because the God 
that hateth iniquity mas with them. But when 
they departed from, the way that he appointed 
them, they were destroyed. This was spoken of 
the Jews, but we may understand it of all nations, 
and especially of the Romans, who are very much 
of a piece with the Jews of old, or no better. We 
see the priests departed from the way that he 
appointed them. What can they expect but destruc- 
tion, if they do not leave off their wickedness, and 
turn unto the Lord ? And the worst is, that the 
innocent laity will suffer with them, for God 
punishes, as we see in the old Testament, a whole 
nation for the sins of their rulers. And it is to be 
feared the same will happen to the Roman church, 
for the sins of their priests. May God enlighten 
them. — ^Amen. 

ARTICLE IL 

Of the privileged altar. 

A privileged altar is the altar to which (or to some 
image on it) the pope has granted a privilege of 
such a nature, that whosoever says before it, or 
before the image, so many pater nosters, ^c.; and 
so many ave maria^s, with gloria patri, &c. obtains 
remission of his sins, or relieveth a soul out of purga- 
tory. Or whoever ordereth a mass to be said on the 
<ira of such an altar, and before the image, has the 
privilege (as thev believe) to take out of purgatory 
that soul for which the sacrifice of the mass is offered. 



222 HISTORY OP THE 

The Cardinals, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops 
and Bishops, can grant to any image forty days of 
full and free indulgence, and fifteen quarantains of 
pardon, for those that visit the said image, and say 
such a prayer before it as they have appointed at 
the granting of such graces : So not only the images 
of the altars in the church, but several images in the 
corners of the streets, and on the highway, have 
those graces granted to them by the bishop of the 
diocess : nay, the beads, or rosary of the Virgin 
Mary, of some considerable persons, have the same 
grants. And what is yet more surprising, the picture 
of St. Anthony's pig, which is placed at the saint's 
feet, has the granting of fifteen quarantains of pardon 
of sins for those that visit and pray before him. 
What the people do on St. Martin's day, I shall tell 
in another chapter. 

I will not dispute now, whether the popes, and 
bishops have authority to grant such privileges ; but 
I only say, that I do not believe such a dream : for 
the pope has usurped the supremacy and infallibility, 
and his ambition being so great, he never will 
dispossess himself of a thing by which he makes 
himself more supreme, infallible, and rich ; by keep- 
ing all those graces in his own hands, he would 
oblige all the bigots to seek after him and pay him 
for them, and have him in more veneration than 
otherwise he would be in. 

These privileges are a great furtherance to carry 
on the ecclesiastical interests, and to bring the people 
to offer their prayers and money, and to be blinded 



POPIgH CHURCH. 223 

and deceived by those papal inventions. But 
because I have already treated of these privileges, I 
proceed to the third article. 

ARTICLE III. 

Of Transubstanttation, or the Eucharist. 

I shall say nothing touching the scholastic opinions 
of the Romish church, about the sacrament of the 
Eucharist, or the real presence of Jesus Christ in it ; 
for these are well known by our learned and well 
instructed laity : so I will confine myself wholly to 
their practices in the administration of this sacrament, 
and the worship paid to it by the priests and laity ; 
and what strange notions the preachers put in the 
people's heads about it. 

First, as to the administration of this sacrament, 
actual or habitual intention being necessary in a 
priest, to the vaUdity and efficacy of the sacrament, 
open confession and repentance of his sins. He goes 
to consecrate the bread and wine, and, (as they say, 
believe, and make the people believe) with five 
words they oblige Jesus Christ to descend from 
heaven to the host with his body, soul and divinity^ 
and that so he remains there as high and almighty 
as he is in heaven ; which they endeavor to confirm 
with pretended miracles, saying, that many priests 
of pure lives have seen a little boy instead of a wafer, 
in the consecrated host, &c. 

In winter, twice every month, and in summer, 
every week, the priest is to consecrate one great host. 



224 HISTORY OP THE 

and a quantity of small ones, which they do in the 
following manner : — After the priest has consecrated 
the great and small, besides the host which he is^ 
to receive himself, the priests of the parish, or friars 
of the convent, come in two lines, with wax candles 
lighted in their hands, and kneel down before the 
altar, and begin to sing an hymn and anthem to the 
sacrament of the altar (so it is called by them) ; then 
the priest openeth the tabernacle where the old great 
host is kept between two chrystals, and takes out of 
the tabernacle the custodia, and a cup of small conse- 
crated wafers, and puts them on the table of the altar j 
then he takes the great old host, eats it, and so he does 
the small ones ; then he puts the new great conse- 
crated host between the two chrystals of the custodiay 
and the new small ones into the communion cup, 
because the small ones serve the common people. 
Then he incenses the great host on his knees, and 
having a white, neat towel round his neck, with the 
ends of it he takes the custodia, and turns to the 
people and makes the figure of a cross before the 
people, and turning to the altar, puts the custodia 
and the cup of the small wafers in the tabernacle, 
and locketh the door, and the priests go away. 

The reason why the great host and the small ones 
are renewed twice a month in winter, and every 
week in summer, (as they say), is (mind this reason, 
for the same is against them) because in summer, by 
the excessive heat, the host may be corrupted and 
putrified, and produce worms, which many times has 
happened to the great host, as I myself have seen* 



POPISH CHURCH. 225 

So to prevent this, they consecrate every week in 
summer time ; but in winter^ which is a more favor- 
able time to preserve the host from corruption, only 
once in a fortnight. If Christ is then in the host 
with the body, soul and divinity, and David says, that 
the holy one (i. e. Christ who is God blessed forever- 
more) never shall see corruption, how comes it, that 
that host, that holy one, that Christ, is sometimes 
corrupted and putrified? The substance of bread 
being only subject to corruption, being vanished, and 
the body of Jesus Christ substituted in its place this 
body by a just inference is corrupted; which is 
against the Scripture, and against the divinity of 
Jesus Christ. 

Again : I ask, whether the worms engendered in 
that host, come out of the real body of Christ, or out 
of the material substance of the host ? If out of the 
body of Christ, every body may infer from this 
the consequences his own fancy suggests. And 
if they say that the worms are engendered in the 
material substance of the bread, then the substance 
of the bread remains after the consecration, and not 
(as they say) the real substance of the body of Christ. 

Again : It is a rule given by all the casuists, that 
that host must be eaten by the priest. I do ask the 
priest that eats the host with the worms, whether he 
believeth that host and worms to be the real body of 
Christ or not ? If he says no, why doth he eat it to 
the prejudice of his own health ? And if he believeth 
it to be the real body of Christ, I do ask again, 
whether the worms are Christ, with body, soul, and 

29 



226 HISTORY OF THE 

divinity, or not ? If they are not, I give the said 
instance : And if they answer in the affirmative y 
then I say, that a priest did not eat the host and 
worms, (as I saw myself,) on pretence of the loath- 
ing of his stomach, and after the mass was ended, he 
carried the host, (two priests accompanying him with 
two candles,) and threw it into a place which they 
call Piscina ; a place where they throw the dirty 
water after they wash their hands, which runs out of 
the church into the street. What can we say now ? 
If the worms and corrupted host is the real body of 
Christ, see what a value they have for him, when 
they throw it away like dirty water ; and if that host 
comes out of the running piscina into the street, the 
first dog or pig passing by (which is very common in 
Spain) may eat it. And if they are not, besides the 
said instance of eating it to the prejudice of their 
health, we may add this, namely : Why do the 
priests and two more carry the host in form of pro- 
cession, and with so great veneration, with lights and 
psalms, as if it was the real body of Christ ? 

Now, as to the way of administering the sacrament 
to the people, they do it in the following manner, 
which is also against the fantastical transubstantia- 
tion. I said that the priest or friar consecrates small 
hosts once a week, to give them to the people when 
they go to receive. The priest in his surplice, and 
with the stola on, goes to the altar, says the prayer 
of the sacrament, opens the tabernacle, and taking 
out of it the cup, opens it, and turning to the com- 
municants, takes one of the wafers with his thumb 



POPISH CHURCH. 227 

and the foremost finger of his right hand, Ufts it up, 
and says. See the lamb of God that taketh away the 
sins oj the world, which he repeats three times ; and 
after goes straightway to the communicants, and puts 
a wafer into each of their mouths. When all have 
received, he puts the cup again into the tabernacle, 
and goes to the vestry. This is when the people 
receive before or after mass ; but when they receive 
at mass, the priest consecrates for himself a great 
host, and after he has eaten it, he takes the cnp out 
of the tabernacle and gives the small wafers, conse- 
crated before by another priest, to the communicants, 
and putting again the cup into the tabernacle, or 
sacrarium, (as they call it,) drinks the consecrated 
wine himself. 

I will not spend my time in proving, that the 
denying of the chalice to the laity is a manifest error, 
and that it is only to extol and raise the ecclesiastical 
dignity to the highest pitch : But I come to their 
ridiculous, nonsensical practices in several accidental 
cases, viz : First, I myself gave the sacrament to a 
lady, who had on that day a new suit of clothes ; but 
she did not open her mouth wide enough to let the 
wafer on her tongue, and by my carelessness it fell 
upon one of her sleeves, and from thence to the 
ground ; I ordered her not to quit the place till I had 
done ; so, after the communion was over, I went to 
her again, and cutting a piece of the sleeve, where 
the wafer had touched, and scratching the ground, I 
took both the piece and dust, and carried them to the 
piscina; but I was suspended ab officio and benejicio 



228 HISTORY OF THE 

for eight days, as a punishment for my distraction, 
and not minding well my business. But this rule 
and custom of throwing into the piscina, among the 
dirty water, every thing that the host had touched, 
they ought to throw the fingers of the priest, or at 
least the tongues of men and women into the same 
place ; and thus, their tricks and superstitious cere- 
monies never would be discovered nor spread abroad. 
How inconsistent this custom is with right sense and 
reason, every body may see. 

Secondly. In the Dominican's convent it happened, 
that a lady who had a lap-dog, which she always 
used to carry along with her, went to receive the 
sacrament with the dog under her arm, and the dog 
looking up and beginning to bark when the friar 
went to put the wafer in the lady's mouth, he let 
the wafer fall, which happened to drop into the dog's 
mouth. Both the friar and the lady were in a deep 
amazement and confusion, and knew not what to do ; 
so they sent for the reverend father prior, who 
resolved this nice point upon the spot, and ordered to 
call two friars and the clerk, and to bring the cross, 
and two candlesticks with two candles lighted, and 
to carry the dog in from the procession into the 
vestry, and keep the poor little creature there with 
illuminations, as if he was the host itself, till the 
digestion of the wafer was over, and then to kill the 
dog and throw it into the piscina. Another friar 
said, it was better to open the dog immediately, and 
take out the fragments of the host ; and a third was 
of opinion, that the dog should be burnt on the spot. 



POPISH CHURCH. 229 

The lady, who loved dearly her Cupid, (this was the 
dog's name,) entreated the father prior to save the 
dog's life, if possible, and that she would give any 
thing to make amends for it. Then the prior and 
friars retired to consult what to do in this case ; and 
it was resolved, that the dog should be called for the 
future, El perillo del sacramento, i. e. The sacra- 
ment's dog. 2. That if the dog should happen to 
die, the lady was to give him a burying in conse- 
crated ground. 3. That the lady should take care 
not to let the dog play with other dogs. 4. That she 
was to give a silver dog, which was to be placed 
upon the tabernacle where the hosts are kept. And, 
5, That she should give twenty pistoles to the 
convent. Every article was performed accordingly, 
and the dog was kept with a great deal of care and 
veneration. The case was printed, and so came to 
the ears of the inquisitors, and Don Pedro Guerrero, 
first inquisitor, thinking the thing very scandalous, 
sent for the poor dog, and kept him in the inquisition 
to the great grief of the lady. What became of the 
dog nobody can tell. This case is worthy to be 
reflected on by serious, learned men, who may draw 
consequences to convince the Romans of the follies, 
covetousness, and superstitions of the priests. 

This I aver, that after this case was published, it 
was disputed on in all the moral academies ; but as 
I cannot tell all the sentiments and resolutions of 
them, I will confine myself to those of the academy 
of the holy trininty, wherein I was present when 
the case was proposed by the president, in the 
following terms : 



230 HISTORY OP THE 

Most reverend and learned brethren — the case of 
the dog (blasphemously called the sacrament's dog) 
deserves your application and searching, which 
ought to be carried on with a wise, christian, and 
solid way of arguing, both in this case or any other 
like it. For my part, I am surprised when I think 
of the irregular, unchristian method, the priors and 
friars took in the case, and both the case and their 
resolution call for our mature consideration. Thanks 
be to God, that our people give full obedience to our 
mother the church, and that they inquire no further 
into the matter, after some of our teachers have 
advised them ; otherwise the honor and reputation 
of our brethren would be quit^ ruined. For my 
part, (salva fide^J I think, that upon the same case, 
the priest ought to let the thing drop there, and take 
no further notice, rather than to give occasion to 
some critics to scandalize, and to laugh at the whole 
clergy. Besides, that it is to abate the imcomparable 
value of the Eueharistia, and to make it ridiculous 
before good sensible men. 

Thus the president spoke ; and fifteen members 
of the academy were of his opinion. One of the 
members said, that being certain that the dog had 
eaten the real body and blood of Jesus Christ, the 
priest, after the communion was over, was obliged 
to call the lady in private, and give a vomit to the 
dog, and to cast into the piscina what he should 
throw up. Another said, that the sacrament being 
a spiritual nourishment to the soul, he was obliged 
to ask a question, and it was, whether the sensitive 



POPISH CHURCH. 331 

soul of the dog was nourished by the sacrament or 
not? All agreed in the affirmative, upon which the 
questionist formed the following argument : The 
soul nourished by the sacrament of the body and 
blood of Christ, who is eternal life, is immortal; but 
the sensitive soul of the dog was nourished by Christ, 
according to your opinions : Ergo, the soul of tljg 
dog is immortal ; then, if immortal, where is the 
soul to go after death ; to heaven, to hell, or to pur- 
gatory ? We must answer, to neither of these 
places : So we disown that the dog did eat the body 
of Christ ; and there is more in the sacrament than 
we can comprehend; and {salvafide, and in the way 
in argument) I say, that the dog ate what we see in 
the host, and not what we believe. Thus the mem- 
ber ended his discourse. 

After all these disputes, the case was thus resolved: 
that the priest should ask the inquisitors' advice, 
who being the judges in matters of faith, may safely 
determine what is to be done in such a case, and the 
hke. 

Thirdly. I have already said in another place, 
that the reverend father friar James Garcia was 
reputed among the learned, the only man for divinity 
in this present age ; and that he was my master, and 
by his repeated kindness to me, I may say, that I 
was his well-beloved disciple. I was to defend a 
public thesis of divinity in the university, and he 
was to be president or moderator. The thesis con- 
tained the following at treises : De Essentia et 
Jlttributis Dei: De Visione Beatifica : De Gratia 



232 HISTORY OP THE 

Justificante et *^uxiliante : De Providentia : De 
Jictu Libera : De Trinitate : and De Sacramenti» 
in genere. All which I had learned from him. The 
shortest treatise, of all he taught publicly in the 
university, was the Encharistia. The proofs of his. 
opinion were short, and the objections against them 
very succinct and dark. I must confess, that I was 
full of confusion, and uneasy for fear that some 
doctor of divinity would make an argument against 
our opinion, touching the sacrament of Eucharistia* 
And I endeavored to ask my master to instruct me, 
and furnish me with answers suitable to the most 
difficult objections that could be proposed ; but 
though he desired me to be easy about it, and that 
upon necessity, he would answer for me ; I replied 
with the following objection : God will never punish 
any man for not believing what is against the 
evidence of our senses, but the real presence in 
Eucharistia is so : Brgo, (salva fide,) God will not 
punish any man for not believing the real presence 
of Christ there. To this he told me that none of the 
doctors would propose such an argument to me, and 
he advised me not to make such an objection in 
public, but to keep it in my heart. But father, (said 
I,) I ask your answer. My answer is (said he) 
aliud Lingua doceo, aliud Corde credo; i. e. I 
teach one thing, and I believe another. By these 
instances, I have given now, every body may easily 
know the corruptions of the Romish church, and the 
nonsensical opinions of their priests and friars, as also 
that the learned do not delieve in their hearts, that 



POPISH C H U R H. 25Z 

there is such a monster as iransubstantiation, 
though for some wordly ends, they do not discover 
their true sentiments about it. 

Now I proceed to the worship, and adoration, 
both the clergy and laity pay to the holy host or 
sacrament. 

I shall not say any thing of what the people do, 
when the priests in a procession under a canopy 
carried the sacrament to the sick, for this custom and. 
the pomp of it, and the idolatrous worship and ado- 
ration offered to it, is well known by our travellers 
and officers of the army. 

Philip the IVth, king of Spain, as he was a himt- 
ing, met in the way a crowd of people following a 
priest, and asking the reason, he was told that the 
priest carried the consecrated wafer in his bosom to 
a sick person; the priest walked, and the king, 
leaving his horse, desired the priest to mount and 
ride on it, and holding the stirup, bareheaded, he 
followed the priest all the way to the house, and 
gave him the horse for a present. From the king to 
the shepherd, all the people pay the same adoration 
to the holy host, which shall be better known by th**- 
pomp and magnificence they carry the great host 
with, in the solemn festival of corpus Christi^ or of 
Christ's body. I shall describe only the generai 
procession made on that day in Saragossa, of which 
I was an eye-witness. 

Though the festival of corpus Christi be a move- 
able feast, it always falls on a Thursday. That day 
is made the great general procession of corpus 

30 



234 HISTORY OP THE 

Christi, and the Sunday following, every congrega* 
tion through the streets of the parish, and every 
convent of friars and nuns thrc^ugh the cloisters of 
the convent go with great pomp to the private pro- 
cession of Christ's body. As to the general great 
one, the festival is ordered in the following manner : 
The Dean of the cathedral church of St. Salvator 
sends an officer to summon all the communities of 
friars, all the clergy of the parish churches, the 
Viceroy, govenor and magistrates, the judges of the 
civil and criminal council, with the lord chancellor of 
the kingdom, and all the fraternities, brotherhoods^ 
or corporations of the city, to meet together on the 
Thursday following, in the metropolitan cathedral 
church of St. Salvator, with all the standards, 
trumpets, giants,* both of the greater or lesser size 
m their respective habits of office or dignity ; and all 
the clergy of the parish churches, and friars of 
convents, to bring along with them in a procession, 
with due reverence, all the silver bodies of saints on 
a base or pedestal, which are in their churches and 
convents. Item : Orders are published in every 
street, that the inhabitants or housekeepers are to 
clean the streets which the sacrament is to go throug h 
and cover the ground with greens, and flowers, and 
to put the best hangings in the fronts of the balconies, 

* Three big giant men, and three giant women, and six little 
ones, drest in men and women's clothes, made of thin wood, 
and carried by a man hid under the clothes. The big ones are 
fifteen feet high, which are kept in the hall of the city, for the 
magnificence and splendor of that day. 



POPISH CHTJRCS. 235 

atwi windows : All which is done accordingly ; or 
else he that does not obey and perform such orders 
is to pay 20 pistoles without any excuse whatsoever. 

At three in the afternoon, the viceroy goes in 
state V7ith the governor, judges, magistrates and 
©Mcers, to meet the archbishop in his palace, and to 
accompany his grace to church, where all the commu- 
nities of friars, clergy and corporations, are waiting 
for them. The dean and chapter receive them at 
the great porch, and after the archbishop has made 
a prayer before th-e great altar, the music begins to 
sing, Pange lingua gloriosa, while the archbishop 
iakes out of the tabernacle the host upon the rich 
clialico, and placeth it on the great custodia, on the 
alt5ir's table. Then the quire begins the evening 
songs, in which the archbishop in his pontifical habit 
•officiateth, and when all is over, his grace giveth the 
blessing to the people with the sacrament in his 
hands. Then the archbishop, with the help of the 
«lean, archdeacon and chanter, placeth the custodia 
m\ a gilt pedestal, which is adorned with flowers and 
the jewels of several ladies of quality, and which is 
carried on the shoulders of twelve priests^, drest in. 
the same ornaments they say mass in. This being 
done, the procession begins to go out of the church 
in the following order : 

First of all the bagpipe, and the great and small 
giants, dancing all along the streets. 2. The big 
silver cross of the cathedral, carried by a elerk-priest 
and two young assistants, with silver candlesticks 
and lighted candles. 3. From the cross to the piper. 



236 HISTORY OP THE 

a man with a high hook goes and comes back again 
while the procession lasts. The hook is called St, 
PauPs hook, because it belongs to St. Paul's church. 
That hook is very sharp, and they make use of it in 
that procession, to cut down the signs of taverns and 
shops, for fear that the holy custodia should be 
spoiled. 4. The standard and sign of the youngest 
corporation, and all the members of it, with a wax 
candle in their hands, forming two lines, whom all 
the corporations follow one after another in the same 
order. There are thirty corporations, and the small- 
est is composed of thirty members. 5. The boys 
and girls of the blue hospital with their master, 
mistress, and chaplain in his alva stola, and long 
sacerdotal cloak. 6. The youngest religion (the 
order of St. Francis is called St. Francis^ religion, 
and so are all orders, which they reckon seventy, and 
which we may really, in the phrase of a satirical 
gentleman, call seventy religions without religion) 
with their reverend and two friars more at the end 
of each order, drest in the ornaments they use at the 
altar : and so all the orders go one after another in 
the same manner. There are twenty convents of 
friars, and on this solemn festival, every one being 
obliged to go to the procession, we reckon there may 
be about two thousand present on this occasion ; and 
sixteen convents of nuns, the number of them by 
regular computation is 1500. 7. The clergy of the 
youngest parish, with the parish cross before, and 
the minister of it behind them in sacred ornaments. 
And so the clergy of other parishes follow one 



POPISH CHURCH. 237 

another in the same order, every friar and priest 
having a white wax candle hghted in his hand. 

The number of secular priests, constantly residing 
in Saragossa, is 1200 in that one town: So by the 
said account, we find all the ecclesiastical persons to 
amount to 4700, when the whole of the inhabitants 
come to 15000 families. 

8. The clergy of the cathedrals of St. Salvator, 
and the lady of Pilar, with all their sacerdotal orna- 
ments, as also the musicians of both cathedrals which 
go before the custodia or sacrament, singing all the 
way. Then the twelve priests more, that carry the 
canopy under which the sacrament goes, and under 
the end of it the dean, and two prebends, as deacon ' 
and subdeacon. The archbishop in his pontifical 
habit goes at the subdeacon's right hand, the viceroy 
at the archbishop's, and the deacon and subdeacon, 
one at the right and the other at the left, all under 
the canopy. Six priests, with incense and incensa- 
ries on both sides of the custodia, go incensing the 
sacrament without intermission ; for while one kneels 
down before the great host, and incenses it three 
times, the other puts incense in his incensary, 
and goes to relieve the other, and thus they do, from 
the coming out of the church, till they return back 
again to it. 

9. The great chancellor, presidents, and coimcils, 
follow after, and after all, the nobility, men and 
women, with lighted candles. This procession lasts 
four hours from the time it goes out, till it comes into 
the church again. All the bells of the convents and 

30* 



288 HISTORY OP THE 

parishes ring all this time ; and if there were not so 
many idolatrous ceremonies in that procession, it 
would be a great pleasure to see the streets so richly 
adorned with the best hangings, and the variety of 
persons in the procession. 

The riches of that procession are incredible to a 
foreigner ; but matters of fact (the truth of which 
maybe inquired into) must be received by all serious 
people. I have spoken already of the rich custodia 
which the archbishop of Sevil gave to the cathedral, 
and the rich chalice set in diamonds. Now besides 
these two things, we reckon thirty-three silver crosses 
belonging to convents, and parish churches, ten feet 
high, and about the thickness of the pole of a coach ; 
thirty three small crosses which the priests and friars, 
who officiate that day, carry in their hands ; these 
crosses, though small, are richer than the big one, 
because in the middle of the cross there is a relic, 
which is a piece of wood (as they say) of the cross^ 
on which our Saviour was crucified, and which they 
call holy wood. This relic is set in precious stones, 
and many of them set in diamonds. Thirty-three 
sacerdotal cloaks to officiate in, made of Tusy d'or, 
edged with pearls, emeralds, rubies, and other rich 
stones. Sixty-six silver candlesticks, four feet high. 
A large gold possenet, and a gold handle for the 
hysop ; six incensaries, four of them silver, and two 
of gold ; four silver incense boxes, and two gold ones. 
Three hundred and eighty silver bodies of saints on 
their rich gilt pedestals, of which two hundred are 
whole bodies, andL the rest half, but many are gilt, 



POPISH CHURCH. 239 

and several wear mitres on their heads, embroidered 
with precious stones. 

The image of St. Michael, with the devil under 
his feet, and the image with wings, are of solid silver, 
gilt all over. 

With this magnificence they carry the sacrament 
through the principal streets of the city, and all the 
people that are in the balconies and lattice windows 
throw roses and other flowers upon the conopy of 
the sacrament as it goes by. When the procession 
is over, and the sacrament placed in the tabernacle, 
there is a stage before the altar to act a sacramental 
or divine comedy, which lasts about an hour, and 
this custom is practised also on Christmas eve. By 
these, every body may know their bigotries, super- 
stitions and idolatries. 

Now I come to say something of the strange 
notions the priests and friars, confessors and preachers, 
put in the people's heads, concerning the host. 
First, they preach and charge the people to adore 
the sacrament, but never to touch the consecrated 
host or wafer, this being a crime against the Catholic 
faith, and that all such as dare to touch it, must be 
burned in the inquisition. Secondly, to believe that 
the real flesh and blood of Christ is in the Eucharist ; 
and that, though they cannot see it, they ought to 
submit their understanding to the Catholic faith. 
Thirdly, that if any body could lawfully touch the 
host, or wafer, and prick it with a pin, blood would 
come out immediately, which they pretend to prove 
with many miracles, as that of the corporales of 



240 HISTORY OP THE 

Daroca, which as it comes a propos, I cannot pass 
by without giving an account of it. 

Daroca is an ancient city of the kingdom of Aragon, 
which bordereth on Castilla. It is famous among 
the Spaniards for its situation and strength, and for 
the mine that is in the neighboring mountain to it. 
For the floods coming with impetuosity against the 
walls, and putting the city in great danger, the 

inhabitants dug three hundred yards from one end of 
the mount to the other, and made a subterranean pas- 
sage, and the floods going that way, the city is ever 
since free from danger. But it is yet more famous 
for what they call corporales. The story is this : — 
When the Moors invaded Spain, a curate near 
Daroca took all imaginable care to save the conse- 
crated wafers that were in the tabernacle, and not to 
see them profaned by the infidels, and open enemies 
of their faith. There were but five small hosts in all, 
which he put with the fine holland on which the 
priest puts the great host when he says mass ; and 
this piece of holland is called corporales. The Moors 
were at that time near, and nobody could make an 
escape ; and the priest, ready to loose his own life, 
rather than to see the host profaned, tied the corpo- 
rales with the five wafers in it, on a blind mule, and 
whipped the beast out of town, said. Speed you well, 
for I am sure that the sacrament on your back will 
guide you to some place free from the enemies of 
our religion. The mule journeyed on, and the next 
day arrived at Daroca, and some people observed the 
corporales tied with the holy stola to the mule's belly, 



POPISH CHURCH. 241 

were surprised at so rare and unexpected a thing, 
and called a priest of the great parish church ; he 
came to the mule, and examining the thing, found 
the five wafers converted into blood, and stamped 
on the Holland cloth; which spots of blood (or 
painting) of the bigness of a tenpenny piece, are 
preserved till this present time. Then the priest 
cried out a miracle, the clergy in great devotion and 
procession came with candles and a canopy, and 
taking the mule under it, went to the great church ; 
and when the minister of the parish had taken the 
stola and corporales from oiF the mule, he went to 
place the corporales on the ara altaris, or the altar's 
table, but the mule not well pleased with it, left the 
company, and went up to the steeple or belfry : then 
the parish minister (though not so wise as the mule) 
followed the mule up stau's, and seeing the beast 
mark a place there with its mouth, he soon under- 
stood that the mule being blind, could neither go up, 
nor mark that place without being inspired from 
above ; and having persuaded the people of the same, 
all agreed that there should be a little chapel built to 
keep the holy corporales. When this resolution was 
approved by the clergy and laity, the mule died on 
the steeple. At the same time the curate having 
made his escape, and by divine inspiration followed 
the mule's steps, came to Daroca, and telling the 
whole cause of his putting the sacrament on the muk 
to save it from profanation, both clergy and laity 
began to cry out, a miracle from. Heaven; and 
immediately further agreed, that the mule should be 



242 HISTORY or the 

embalmed and kept before the holy corporales in the 
steeple, ad peyyetiiam Rei Mtmoriam : Item, to 
make a mule of the best stone could be found, m 
honor of the mule, and that for the future his name 
should be the holy mule. All things being done 
accordingly, and the city never having been mastered 
by the Moors, (as the inhabitants say,) they instituted 
a solemn festival, to which ever since the neighbors, 
even fourteen leagues distant, come every year. 
Those that go up to the steeple to see the holy 
miracle of the wafers converted into blood, and the 
holy mule, must pay four reals of plate. The people 
ol Daroca, call it sometimes, the holy mystery, 
guiother time the holy m^iracle ; the sacrament of 
the mule by some ignorants ; the holy sacrainent on 
a mule by the wise, &c. I myself took a journey to 
see this wonder of Daroca, and paying the fees, went 
up to have a full view of every thing : and really, I 
saw a mule of stone, and ^a coffin wherein the 
embalmed mule was kept, (as the clerk told me,) but 
he did not open it, for the key is kept always at the 
bisliop's palace : I saw likewise the linen with five 
red spots in a little box of gilt silver, two candles 
always burning before it ; and a glass lamp before 
the mule's coffin. At that time I believed every part 
of the story. All sorts of people believe, as an 
infallible truth, that every body's sight is preserved 
during life in the same degree of strength and clear- 
ness it is in at the time they see these bloody spots, 
which is proved by many instances of old women, 
who by that means have excellent eyes to the last. 



POPISH CHURCH. 243 

Item : They give out that no blind person ever 
came before the corporales, without his sight being 
restored to him ; which I firmly believe, for no blind 
person ever was in the steeple. I cannot swear this 
but I have very good reason to affirm it ; for in the 
first place, there is a small book printed, called 
"Directions for the faithful people,'^ teaching them 
how to prepare themselves before they go up to see 
the holy mystery of the corporales of Daroca. One 
of the advices to the blind is, that they must confess 
and receive the sacrament, and have the soul as 
clean as crystal, and to endeavor to go up to the 
steeple from the altar's table without any guide ; and 
that if some cannot go as far as the chapel of the 
belfry, it is a sign that that man is not well prepared. 
The distance between the altar and the steeple's door 
is about forty yards, and there are nine strong pillars 
in the body of the church ; so the poor blind people, 
before they can reach the belfry's door, commonly 
break their noses, some their heads, &c. And some, 
more cautious and careful, and happy in finding out 
the door, when they are in the middle of the stairs, 
find a snare or stock, and break their legs ; for I 
remember very well, when I went up myself, I saw 
a sort of a window in the middle of one of the steps, 
and asking the use of it, the clerk told me, it was to 
let down through it the rope of the great bell. Then 
I inquired no farther ; but now, being sure that there 
W8LS but that small window shut up in the whole 
pair of winding stairs, I conclude, that it could not 
be there for the said use, and in all probabiUty that 



244 HISTORY OF THE 

window was the snare to catch the poor blind people 
in. Therefore, the clerk being not sure of the 
miracle, by this prevents the discovery of the want 
erf virtue in the holy corporales, to cure all diseases, 
and at the same time gives out a miracle, and the 
miracle is, that the blind man has broke his leg, and 
that it is a just punishment for daring to go up either 
unprepared, or with little faith ; so no blind man has 
recovered sight by the virtue of the corporales. 

By means of this same direction, no sick person 
dareth to go up ; but if they recover, it must be a 
miracle of the holy mystery. And if a mule happen 
to be sick, the master of it goes and makes the beast 
give three turns around the steple, thinking that its 
brother mule hath power to cure it. Many will be 
apt to suspect the truth of this story ; nay, some will 
think it a mere forgery ; but I appeal to several 
officers of the army that went through Daroca, to be 
witnesses for me. It may be they were not told all 
the circumstances of it, because the people there 
having strange notions of an heretic ; but the mule 
and corporales being the most remarkable thing in 
the city, I am sure many did hear of it, though 
nobody of the heretics could see the holy mystery, 
being a thing forbidden by their church. 

With this, and the like pretended miracles, priests 
and friars, confessors and preachers, make the people 
believe the real presence of Christ's body in the host, 
and the ineffable virtue of this sacrament to cure all 
bodily distempers : nav, what is more than all these, 
they persuade, and make the people believe, that if 



POPISH CHURCH. 245 

a man or a woman has the consecrated wafer by 
them, they cannot die suddenly ; nay, nor be killed 
by violent hands. So great is the power of the host 
(they say,) that if you show it to the enraged sea, 
the storm immediately ceaseth ; if you carry it with 
you, you cannot die, especially a sudden death. 
And really, they may venture to give out this doc- 
trine as an infallible point, for they are sure no body 
will dare to touch the host, and much less to carry it 
with them, it being so high a crime, that if any body 
was found out with the consecrated wafer on his 
body, the sentence is already passed by the inquisi- 
tors, that such a person is to be burnt alive. 

A parish priest carrying the consecrated host to a 
sick person out of the town, was killed by a flash of 
lightning, which accident being clearly against this 
pretended infallible power of the host, the people 
took the liberty to talk about it ; but the clergy 
ordered a funeral sermon, to which the nobility and 
common people were invited by the common cryer.^ 
Every body expected a funeral sermon: but the; 
preacher, taking for his text Judicium sibi mouducat 
proved, that the priest killed by a flash of lighting, 
was certainly damned, and that his sudden death, 
while he had the consecrated host in his hands, was 
the reward of his wickedness ; and that his death was 
to be looked upon as a miracle of the holy host, 
rather than an instance against the infinite power of 
it; for, said he, we have carefully searched and 
examined every thing, and have found that he was 
not a priest, and therefore had no authority to touch 

31 



^46 HISTORY OF THE 

the host, nor administer the sacrament of the eucha- 
rist. And with this the mnrmur of the people ceased 
and every body afterwards thought, that the sudden 
death of the priest was a manifest miracle wrought 
by the host, and a visible punishment from heaven 
for his sacrilegious crimes. 

The truth is, that the priest was ordained by the 
bishop of Tarasona, in Aragon. The thing happened 
in the city of Calatayed, in the same kingdom ; his 
name was Mossen Pedro Aquilar ; he was buried in 
the church called the Sepulchre of our Lord, The 
reverend father Fombuena was the preacher, aud I 
was one of the hearers, and one that believed the 
thing as the preacher told us, till after a while, some 
members of the academy having examined the case, 
and found that he was really a priest, proposed it to 
the assembly, that every body might give his opinion 
about it. The president said that such a case was 
not to be brought into question, but the doctrine of 
the church touching eucharistia to be believed with 
out any scruples. 

Again, That the host has no virtue nor power to 
calm the raging sea, I know myself by experience ; 
and a« the relation of the thing may prove effectual 
to convince other Roman Catholics of their erroneous 
belief, as well as the passage itself did me, it seems 
fit in this place to give an account of it, and I pray 
God Almighty, that it may please him to give all the 
Roman Catholics the same conviction, some way or 
other, his infinite goodness was pleased to give me, 
that they may take as firm a resolution as I have 



POPISH CHURCH. 247 

taken, to espouse the safest way to salvation : for if 
we take our measures concerning the truths of reU- 
gion from the rules of holy Scriptures, and the plat- 
form of the primitive churches ; nay, if the religion 
of Jesus Christ as it is delivered in the New Testa- 
ment, be the true religion, (as I am certain it is) and 
the best and safest way to salvation : then certainly 
the Protestant religion is the purest, that is, at this 
day, in the world ; the most orthodox in faith, and 
the freest on the one hand from idolatry and super- 
stition, and on the other, from whimsical novelties 
and enthusiasms, of any now extant; and not only a 
safe way to salvation, but the safest of any I know 
of in the world. Now I come to my story. 

After I left my country, making use of several 
stra-tagems and disguises, I went to France, dressed 
in officer's clothes, and so I was known by some at 
Paris ; under the name of the Spanish officer. My 
design was to come to England, but the treaty of 
Utretcht not being concluded, I could not attempt to 
come from Calais to Dover without a pass. I was 
perfectly a stranger in Paris, and without any 
aeq^uaintance, only one French priest, who had stu- 
died in Spain, and could speak Spanish perfectly 
well, which was a great satisfaction to me, for at 
that time I could not speak French. The priest (to 
whom I made some presents,) was interpreter of the 
Spanish letters to the king's confessor, father le 
Teller, to whom he introduced me ; I spoke to him 
in Latin, and told him I had got a great fortune by 
the death of an uncle in London, and that I should 



248 HISTORY OF THE 

be very much obliged to his reverence , if by his 
influence I could obtain a pass. The priest had told 
him that I was a Captain, which the father believed; 
and my brother having been a captain, (though at 
that time was dead,) it was an easy thing to pass 
for him. The first visit was favorable to me, for the 
father confessor promised to get me a pasSy and bid 
me call for it two or three days after, which I did ; 
but I found the reverend very inquisitive, asking me 
several questions in divinity : I answered to all, that 
I had studied only a little Latin. — He then told me 
there was no possibility of obtaining a pass for 
England, and that if I had committed any irregular 
thing in the army, he would give me a letter for the 
king of Spain to obtain my pardon, and make my 
peace with him again. I confess this speech made 
me very uneasy, and I began to suspect some danger 
so I thanked him for his kind offer to me, and told 
him I had committed nothing against my king or 
country, which I would convince him of, by refusing 
his favor, and by returning back into Spain that very 
week. So I took my leave of him, and the day 
following I left Paris, and went back to St. Sebastian 
where I kept my lodgings till I got the opportunity 
of a ship for Lisbon. The merchants of Saragossa 
trade to St. Sebastian, where I was afraid of being 
known, and discovered by some of them, and for this 
reason I kept close in my room, giving out that I 
was not well. How to get a ship was the only 
diificulty ; but I was freed from this by sending for 
the father rector of the Jesuits, on pretence that 1 



POPISH CHURCH. 249 

was very ill, and was willing to confess my sins. 
Accordingly he came to me that very day, and I 
began my confession, in which I only told him, that 
as I was an officer in the army, and had killed another 
officer, for which the king had ordered me to be 
taken up, so that my life being in danger, and my 
conscience in trouble on account of the murder, I 
put both life and soul into his hands. He asked me 
all the usual questions, but I confessing no other sin, 
the father thought I was a good christian, and some- 
thing great in the world ; so he bade me be easy 
and mind nothing, but keep myself in readiness for 
my voyage, and that he would send a captain of a 
ship to me that very night, who should take me along 
with him into the ship, and sail out the next morning. 
And so all was performed accordingly, and I went 
that night to embark. What directions the father 
rector gave the captain I Imow not ; this I know, 
that I was treated as if I were the son of a grandee, 
and served by the captain himself. This was the 
first time of my life being at sea, and I was ver ysick 
the two first days; the third day a great storm began, 
which put me in fear of loosing my life. But then 
calling to my memory that the divine power was 
said to be in a consecrated host, to calm the raging 
sea, and knowing that a priest had power to conse- 
crate at any time, and every where, upon urgent 
necessity, I went into the captain's cabin, and took 
one of the white wafers he made use of for sealing 
letters, and being alone, I made this promise before 
God Almighty, from the bottom of my heart, that if 

31* 



250 HISTORYOFTHE 

he would graciously condescend to remove my 
scruples at once, by manifesting the real presence of 
his body in the host, and its infinite power, by calming 
the raging tempest at the sight of the one I was now 
going to consecrate, then I would return back again 
into my church and country, and live and die in the 
Romish communion ; but if the effect did not answer 
to the doctrine preached of the host, then I would 
live and die in the church that knoweth no such 
errors, nor obeyeth the pope. After this promise, I 
said my prayers of preparation to consecrate ; and 
after I had consecrated one wafer (which I was sure 
in my conscience v^ras duly consecrated, for the want 
of ornaments and a decent place, is no hindrance to 
the validity of the priest's consecration,) I went up, 
and hiding the wafer from the captain and the crew 
of the ship, I showed it to the sea, and trembling all 
over, stood in that condition for half an hour. But 
the storm at that time increased so violently, that 
we lost the mast of the ship, and the captain desired 
me to go down. I was willing to wait a little longer 
for the efficacy of the host, but finding none at all, I 
went down, and kneeling, I began to pray to God, 
and thinking I was obliged to eat the consecrated 
host for reverence sake, I did eat it, but without any 
faith of the efficacy and power of it. Then I vowed 
before God, never to believe any doctrine of the 
Romish church, but those that were taught by Jesus 
Christ and his apostles, and to live and die in that 
only. After this vow, though the storm did continue 
for a day and a night, my heart was calmed, all my 



POPISH CHURCH. 251 

fears vanished, and though with manifest danger of 
our Uves, we got into Vigo's harbor, and safe from 
the storm. 

I left the ship there, and by land I went to Portu- 
gal, having an inward joy and easines in my heart ; 
but having stopped at Porto-Porto, to take a little 
rest, I fell sick of an intermitting fever, which brought 
m.e to the very point of death three times, in three 
months and nine days. The minister of the parish 
being told by my landlord, the condition I was in, 
past hopes of recovery, came to visit me, and desired 
me to confess and receive as a good christian ought 
to do ; but I thanking him for his good advice, told 
him, that I was not sick as he believed, and that I 
would send for him if I had any occasion, and really, 
I never believed that I was to die of that distemper, 
and by this thought, I was freed from priests and 
confessors. 

When I was out of danger, and well recovered, I 
went to Lisbon, where I had the opportunity of 
talking with some English merchants, who explained 
to me some points of the Protestant religion, and my 
heart was in such a disposition, that their words 
affected me more than all the sermons and moral 
sums of the Romish Church had ever done before. 

I knew a captain in the Spanish army, Don Alonzo 
Corsega by name, who was killed at the siege of 
Leridi, in whose bosom was found (in a little purse,) 
the consecrated wafer, for which his body was burnt 
to ashes. It is very likely that the poor man 
thinking to escape from death by that means^ he took 



252 HISTORY OF THE 

it out of his mouth when he went to receive, and 
kept it as an amulet against the martial instruments, 
which paid no respect to its fancied divinity. 

Now by these instances I have given you aheady, 
it appears that the practices of the Romish priests, 
in the administration of the Eucharist, either to 
heakhy or sick people, are only observed for 
interest's sake, as the worship and adoration given 
to the consecrated wafer, tends only to the increase 
of their treasure. And lastly the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation and real presence of Christ, which 
they endeavor to make the people believe by sup^ 
posed miracles, is only to cheat and blind the poor 
laity, and raise in them a great reverence and 
admiration of their persons and office. 

Lord God, who receivest into thy favor those 
that fear thee, and do work righteousness, suffer not 
so many thousands of innocent people to be led in 
the way of error, but enlighten them with thy spirit, 
put the light of the Gospel upon the candlestick, that 
all those who are in darlmess may by that means 
come to the safe way of salvation, and live and die 
in the profession of thy truth, and the purity of that 
perfect religion taught by thine only son, our Saviour 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen, 




Purgatory Room, 



POPISH CHURCH. 255 

r 

ARTICLE IV. 

Of Purgatory, 

I cannot give a real account of Purgatory, but I 
will tell all I know of the practices and doctrines of 
the Romish priests and friars, in relation to that 
imaginary place, which indeed must be of vast 
extent and almost infinite capacity, if, as the 
priests give out, there are as many apartments m it 
as conditions and ranks of people in the world 
among Roman Catholics. 

The intenseness of the fire in Purgatory is calcu- 
lated by them, which they say is eight degrees, and 
that of hell only four degrees. But there is a great 
difference between these two fires, in this, viz. that 
of purgatory (though more intense, active, consuming 
and devouring) is but for a time, of which the souls 
may be freed by the suffrages of masses ; but that of 
hell is forever. In both places, they sa^^, the souls 
are tormented, and deprived of the glorious sight of 
God, but the souls in purgatory (though they endure 
a great deal more than those in hell) have certain 
hopes of seeing God sometime or other, and that 
hope is enough to make them to be called the blessed 
souls. 

Pope Adrian the Third, confessed, that there was 
no mention of purgatory in Scripture, or in the 
writings of the holy fathers; but notwithstanding 
this, the council of Trent has settled the doctrine of 
purgatory withont alleging any one passage of the 



256 HISTORY OP THE 

holy Scripture, and gave so much liberty to priests 
and friars by it, that they build in that fiery palace, 
apartments for kings, princes, grandees, noblemen, 
merchants and tradesmen, for ladies of quality, for 
gentlemen and tradesmen's wives, and for poor 
common people. These are the eight apartments 
which answer to the eight degrees of intensus ignis, 
i. e. intense fire ; and they make the people believe, 
tliat the poor people only endure the least degree ; 
the second being greater, is for gentlewomen and 
tradesmen's wives, and so on to the eighth degree, 
which being the greatest of all, is reserved for kings. 
By this wicked doctrine they get gradually masses 
from all sorts and conditions of people, in proportion 
to their greatness. But as the poor cannot give so 
many masses as the great, the lowest chamber of 
purgatory is always crowded with the reduced souls 
of those unfortunately fortunate people, for they say 
to them, that the providence of God has ordered 
every thing to the ease of his creatures, and that 
foreseeing that the poor people could not afford the 
same number of masses that the rich could, his 
infinite goodness had placed them in a place of less 
sufferings in purgatory. 

But it is a remarkable thing, that many poor, silly 
tradesmen's wives, desirous of honor in the next 
world, ask the friars whether the souls of their 
fathers, mothers, or sisters, can be removed from the 
second apartment (reckoning from the lowest) to the 
third, thinking by it, that though the third degree of 
fire is greater than the second, yet the soul would 



POPISH CHURCH. 257 

be better pleased in the company of ladies of quality ; 
but the worst is, that the friar makes such women 
believe, that he may do it very easily, if they give 
the same price for a mass the ladies of quality give. 
I knew a shoemaker's wife, very ignorant, proud, 
and full of punctilos of honor, who went to a 
Franciscan friar, and told him that she desired to 
know whether her own father's soul was in purga- 
tory or not, and in what apartment. The friar asked 
her how many masses she could spare for it ; she 
said two ; and the friar answered, your father's soul 
is among the beggars. Upon hearing this, the poor 
woman began to cry, and desired the friar to put him, 
if possible, in the fourth appartment, and she would 
pay him for it ; and the quantum being settled, the 
friar promised to place him there the next day ; so 
the poor woman ever since gives out that her father 
was a rich merchant, for it was revealed to her that 
his soul is among the merchants in purgatory. 

Now what can we say, but that the pope is the 
chief Govenor of that vast place, and priests and 
friars the quarter-masters that billet the souls accord- 
ing to their own fancies, and have the power, and 
give for money the king's apartments to the soul of 
a shoemaker, and that of a lady of quality to her 
washer-woman. 

But mind reader, how chaste the friars are in 
procuring a separate place for ladies in purgatory ; 
they suit this doctrine to the temper of a people 
whom they believe to be extremely jealous, and 
really not without ground of them, and so no soul of 

32 



258 HISTORY OP THE 

a woman can be placed among men. Many seiioiif- 
people are well pleased with this christian caution ; 
but those that are given to pleasure do not like it at 
all; and I knew a pleasant young collegian, who* 
went to a friar and told him j father, I own I love 
the fair sex; and I believe my soul will always 
retain that inclination. I am told that no man's soul 
can be in company with ladies, and it is a dism.al 
thing for me to think, that I must go there, (but as: 
for hell, I am in no danger of it, thanks to the pope,} 
where I shall never see any more women, which will 
prove the greatest of torments to my soul : so I have 
resolved to agree with your reverence beforehand, 
upon this point. I have a bill of ten pistoles upon 
Peter la Vinna Banquer, and if you can assure me^ 
either to send me straight to heaven when I die, or 
to the ladies apartment in purgatory, you shall have 
the bill ; and if you cannot, I must submit to the will 
of God, like a good christian. The friar seeing the 
bill, which he thought ready money, told him that 
he could do either of the two, and that he himself 
might choose which of the two places he pleased. 
But father (said the collegian,) the case is, that I love 
Danna Teresa Spinola, but she does not love me, and 
I do not believe that I can expect any favor from 
her in this world, so I would know whether she is 
to go before me to purgatory or not. ! that is 
very certain (said the friar.) I choose then (said the 
collegian,) the ladies apartment, and here is the bill, 
if you give me a certificate under your hand, that 



POPISH CHURCH. 259 

tke thing shall be so ; but the friar refusing to give 
him any authetic certifficate, the collegian laughed at 
him, and made satirical verses upon him, which 
were printed, and which I read. I knew the friar 
too, who being mocked publicly, was obliged to 
remove from his convent to another hi the country. 

Notwithstanding all these railleries.^ of which the 
inquisitors cannot take notice, being not against the 
Catholic faith ; priests and friars do daily endeavor to 
prove, that purgatory is a real existent place, and 
that by masses, the souls detained in it are daily 
delivered out of it. And this they prove by many 
revelations made to devout, pious people ; and by 
many apparitions. 

They not only preacli thsm publicly, but books 
are printed of such revelations., and apparitions. I 
xemember many of them, but I shall not trouble the 
reader with them ; only I will tell some of the most 
remarkable ones of my time. 

In the latter end of King Charles the Second's 
reign, a nun of Guadalarajara wrote a letter to his 
majesty, acquainting him, that it was revealed to her 
by aa angel, that the sou] of his father, Philip the IV 
was still in purgatory, (all alone in the royal apart- 
ments) and likewise in the lowest chamber, the said 
king Philip^s shoemaker, and that upon saying so 
many masses, both should be deUvered out of it, and 
should go to enjoy the ravishing pleasures of an 
/eternal life. The nun was reputed a saint upon 
jearth, and the simple king gave orders to his confes- 
3QV to say, or order so many masses to be said, for 



260 HISTORY OF THE 

that purpose ; after which, the said nun wrote again 
to his majesty, congratulating and wishing him joy^ 
for the arrival of his father to heaven ; but that the 
shoemaker, who was seven degrees lower than Philip 
in purgatory, was then seven degrees higher than his 
majesty in heaven, because of his better life on earth,, 
who never had committed any sin with women, as 
Philip had done all his life time, but that all was 
forgiven to him on account of the masses. 

Again, they give out in the pulpit, that the pope 
has an absolute power to make the mass efficacious 
to deliver the soul, for which it is said, out of that 
place ; and that his holiness can take at once all the 
souls out of it ; as Pious the Vth did, (as they report) 
who, when he was cardinal, was mighty devout, and 
a great procurer of the relief of souls, and who had 
promised them with a solemn oath, that if, by their 
prayers in purgatory, he should be chosen Pope, 
then he would empty purgatory of all the souls at 
once. At last, by the intercession of the souls with 
God Almighty, he was elected pope, and immediately 
he delivered all the souls out of that place ; but that 
Jesus Christ was so angry with the new pope, that 
he appeared to him, and bade him not to do any 
such thing again, for it was prejudicial to the whole 
clergy and friarship. That pope delivered ail the 
souls out of purgatory, by opening the treasure of 
the church, in which were kept millions of masses, 
which the popes make use of for the augmenting the 
riches of the holy see. But he took care not to do it 
again J for though qi(odQ%inqm solveritis in Terr a ^ 



POPISH CHURCH. 261 

trlt solutum et in Coelis, there is not specified the 
same power in purgatory, therefore, ever since, the 
popes take no authority, nor Hberty to sweep purga- 
tory at once, for it would prove their ruin, and 
reduce the clergy to poverty. 

When some ignorant people pay for a mass, and 
are willing to know whether the soul for which the 
mass is said, is, after the mass, delivered out of pur- 
gatory ; the friar makes them believe, that the soul 
will appear in the figure of a mouse within the 
tabernacle of the altar, if it is not out of it, and then 
it is a sign that the soul wants more masses ; and if 
the mouse does not appear, the soul is in heaven. 
So when the mass is over, he goes to the tabernacle 
backwards, where is a little door with a crystal, and 
lets the people look through it : But pitiful thing! 
They see a mouse which the friars keep, (perhaps 
for this purpose) and so the poor sots give more 
money for more masses, till they see the mouse no 
more. They have a revelation ready at hand, to say, 
that such a devout person was told by an angel, that 
the soul for which the mass is said, was to appear in 
the figure of a mouse in the sacrario or tabernacle. 

Many other priests and friars do positively affirm, 
and we see many instances of it forged by them in 
printed books, that when they consecrate the host, 
the little boy Jesus doth appear to them in the host, 
and that is a sign that the soul is out of purgatory. 
There is a fine picture of St. Anthony de Paula, 
with the host in his hand, and the little Jesus is in 
the host, because that divine boy frequently appeared 

32* 



262 HISTORY OF THE 

to him when he said mass, as the history of his life 
gives an account. But at the same time, they say, 
that no layman can see the boy Jesus, because it is 
not permitted to any man but to priests to see so 
heavenly a sight : and by that means they give out 
what sort of stories they please, without any fear of 
ever being found out in a lie. 

As to the second day of November, which is the 
day of the souls of purgatory, in which every priest 
and friar sayeth three masses for the delivery of so 
many souls out of the pains of it, they generally say, 
that from three of the clock, of the first day Novem- 
ber (all saints' day) till three in the afternoon, the 
next day, all the souls are out of purgatory, and 
entirely free from the pains of it ; (those four and 
twenty hours being granted by his holiness for a 
refreshment to them) and that all that while they 
are in the air diverting themselves, and expecting 
the relief of so many masses, to get by them the 
desired end, viz. The celestial habitations. On 
these twenty hours, they ring the bells of all the 
churches and convents, which (as they say) is a 
great suffrage and help to the souls, and on that day 
only, priests and friars get more money than they 
get in two months time beside ; for every family, 
and private persons too, give yellow wax candles to 
the church, and money for masses and responsa, i. e. 
a prayer for the dead, and all these twenty-four 
hours the churches are crowded with people, and 
the priests and friars continually singing prayers for 
the dead, and this they call the priests and friars' fair 



POPISH CHURCH. 263 

day ; which they solemnize with the continual ring- 
ing of bells, though they give out, that it is a suffrage 
for the souls of purgatory. 

And on the same pretence, there is a man in every 
parish that goes in the dark of the evening through 
all the streets with a bell, praying for the souls, and 
asking charity for them in every house, always ring- 
ing the bell as a suffrage. The duke of Ossuna 
made a witty repartee to pope Innocent the Xlth, on 
this subject. The duke was ambassador for the king 
of Spain at Rome, and he had a large bell on the 
top of his house, to gather his domestics when he 
was going out. Many cardinals lived by his palace, 
and complained to the pope, that the ambassador's 
bell disturbed them; (for the duke used to order to 
ring the bell when he knew the cardinals were at 
home) and the pope spoke immediately to the duke, 
and asked his Excellency the reason of keeping so 
big a bell ? To which the duke answered, that he 
was a verv good christian, and a good friend to the 
souls of purgatory, to whom the ringing of the bell 
was a suffrage. The pope took in good part this 
raillery, and desired him to make use of some other 
signal to call his servants ; for that of the bell was 
very noisy, and a great disturbance to the cardinals, 
his neighbors ; and that if he was so good a friend 
to the souls of purgatory, he would do them more 
service by selling the bell, and giving the money for 

masses. 

To tell the truth the duke did not care for the 

souls, but all his design was to vex the cardinals : 



264 HISTORY OP THE 

So the next day he ordered to bring down the bell^ 
and to put in the same place a cannon, or ordnance^ 
and to give twelve shots every morning and twelve 
at night, which was the time the cardinals were at 
home. So they made a second complaint to the 
pope ; upon this, he spoke to the duke again, and he 
answered to his holiness, that the bell was to be sold, 
and the m.oney to be delivered to the priests for 
masses ; but that he had ordered the cannon as a 
suffrage for the souls of the poor soldiers that had 
died in the defence of the holy see. The pope was 
very much affronted by this answer, and as. he was 
caressing a little lap-dog he had in his arms, got up, 
and said, — Duke, I take more care of the souls of 
the poor soldiers than you of your own soul ; at 
which, the duke taking out of the pope's arms the 
lap-dog, and throwing him through the window, 
said. And, I take care to show the pope how he 
ought to speak with the king of Spain, to whom 
more respect is due. Then the pope, knowing the 
resoluteness of the duke, and that his holiness could 
get nothing by an angry mothod, chose, to let the 
thing drop there, rather than to make more noise ; so 
the duke kept his cannon piece, and the cardinals 
were obliged to remove their families into a more 
quiet place. 

A mendicant friar one day asked some charity 
from the same duke, for the souls of purgatory, and 
said. My lord, if you put a pistole in this plate, you 
shall take out of purgatory that soul for which you 
design it. The duke gave the pistole, and asked 



POPISH CHURCH. 265 

whether the soul of his brother was already out of 
it ? And when the friar said, Yea ; the duke took 
again his pistole, and told the friar, Now you cannot 
put his soul into purgatory again. And it is to be 
wished that every one was like that duke, and had 
the same resolution to speak the truth to the pope 
himself and all his quarter-masters. 

I have told in the first article of this chapter, that 
every Friday is appointed to say masses for the souls 
in purgatory, which did belong to corporations of 
fraternities, and what great profit priests, and espe- 
cially friars, get by it. Now by this infallible custom 
and practice, we may say, that purgatory contains 
as many corporations of souls, as there arie corpora- 
tions of tradesmen here below, which fraternities are 
more profitable to all sorts of communities of friars, 
than the living members of them upon earth. But 
some of these people, either o ut of pleasantry, or out 
of curiosity, ask sometimes in what part of the world 
or of the air, is that place of purgatory ? To which 
the friars answer, that it is bet ^veen the centre of 
the earth and this earthly superfices ; which they 
pretend to prove, and make therri believe by revela- 
tions, and especially by a story fi'om a Jesuit father, 
who in his travels saw the earth open by an earth- 
quake, and in the deep a great many people of a 
flaming red color, from which nonsensical account 
they conclude, to blind the poor people, that those 
were the souls of purgatory, red as the very flame 
of fire. But observe, that no priest or friar would 
dare to tell such frivolous stories to people of good 



266 HISTORY OF THE 

sense, but to the ignorant, of which there are great 
numbers in those parts of the world. 

When they preach a sermon of the souls, they 
make use of brimstone, and burn it in the pulpit, 
saying, that such flames are like those of the fire in 
purgatory. They make use of many pictures of the 
souls that are in the middle of devouring fire, lifting 
up their hands to heaven, as if they wera crying for 
help and assistance. They prove their propositions 
with revelations and apparitions, for they cannot 
find in the Scripture any passage to ground their 
audacious thoughts on, and such sermons are to the 
people of sense better diversion than a comedy ; for 
besides the wretchedness of style and method, they 
tell so many sottish stories, that they have enough 
to lau2:h at afterwards for a lonsr while. 

I went to hear on old friar, who had the name of 
an excellent preacher, upon the subject of the souls 
in purgatory, and he took his text out of the twenty- 
first chapter of the Apoc. 27th verse : ,dnd there 
shall ill no ivise enter into it any thing that dejileth 
neither whatsoever ivorketh aboniination ; by 
which he settled the belief of a purgatory, proving 
by some romantic authority that such a passage 
ought to be understood of purgatory, and his chief 
authority was, because a famous interpreter, or 
expositor; renders the text thus: There shall not 
enter into it (meaning heaven) any thing which is 
not proved by the fire, as silver is purified by it. 
When he had proved this text, be came to divide it, 
which he did in these three heads : Fii'st, that the 



POPISH CHURCH. 267 

souls suffer in purgatory three sorts of torments, of 
which the first was fire, and that greater than the 
fire of hell. Secondly, to be deprived of the face of 
God : And Thirdly, which was the greatest of all 
torments, to see their relations and friends here on 
earth diverting themselves, and taking so little care 
to relieve them out of those terrible pains. The 
preacher spoke very little of the two first points, but 
he insisted upon the third a long hour, taxing the 
people of ingratitude and inhumanity ; and that if it 
was possible for any of the living to experience, only 
for a moment, that devouring flame of purgatory, 
certainly he would come again, and sell whatever 
he had in the world, and give it for masses : And 
what pity it is (said he) to know that there are the 
souls of many of my hearers' relations there, and 
none of them endeavor to relieve them out of that 
place. He went on and said: I have a catalogue 
of the souls, which, by revelation and apparition, 
we are sure are in purgatory ; for in the first place, 
the soul of such a one (naming the soul of a rich 
merchant's father) appeared the other night to a godly 
person, in the figure of a pig, and the devout person, 
knowing that the door of his chamber was locked up, 
began to sprinkle the pig with holy water, and con- 
juring him, bade him speak, and tell him what he 
wanted ? And the pig said, I am the soul of such 
an one, and I have been in purgatory these ten years 
for want of help. When I left the world, I forgot 
to tell my confessor where I left 1000 pistoles, which 
I had reserved for masses. My son found them out. 



2^8 HISTORY OP THE 

and he is such an unnatural child, that he doth not 
remember my pitiful condition ; and now by the 
permission of heaven, I come to you, and command 
you to discover this case to the first preacher you 
meet, that he may publish it, and tell mv son, that if 
he doth not give that money for masses for my relief 
I shall be for ever in purgatory, and his soul shall 
certainly go to hell. 

The credulous merchant, terrified with this story, 
believing every title of it, got up before all the people, 
and went into the vestry, and when the friar had 
finished, he begged of him to go along with bim to 
his house, where he should receive money, which he 
did accordingly, for fear of a second thought ; and 
the merchant gave freely the 1000 pistoles, for fear 
that his father's soul should be kept in purgatory, 
and he himself go to hell. 

And besides these cheats and tricks, they make 
use of themselves to exact money, the)^ have their 
solicitors and agents that go from one house to 
another, telling stories of apparitions and revelations, 
and these arc they which we call beatas and devotas 
for as their modestty in paparel, their hypocritical air, 
and daily exercises of confessing and receiving is well 
known in the world, the common people have so good 
an opinion of them, that they believe, as an article 
of faith, whatever stories they tell, without further 
inquiry into the matter : So those cunning, disguised 
devils (or worse) instucted by the friar their confes- 
sor, go and spread abroad many of these apparitions, 
by which they get a grat deal of money for masses, 
which they give to the father confessor. 



POPISH CHURCH. 269 

Nay, of late, the old nuns, those that, to their grief, 
the world despises, have undertaken the trade of 
publishing revelations and apparitions of souls in 
purgatory, and give out that such a soul is, and shall 
be in it, until the father, mother, or sister, go to such 
a friar, and give him so many masses, which he is to 
say himself, and no other. And the case is, that by 
agreement between the old skeleton, and the covet- 
ous father, he is to give her one-third of all the 
masses that he receives by her means and application. 
So you see the nature of this place of purgatory, the 
apartments in it, the degrees of the fire of it, the 
means the priests and the friars make use of to keep 
in repair that profitable palace ; and above all, the 
stupidity, sottishness and blindness of the people, to 
believe such dreams as matters of fact. What now 
can the Roman Catholics say for themselves ? J am 
avv^are that they will say that I am a deceiver and 
imposter. The Jews said of our Saviour, (John vii., 
V. 12.) some, that he was a good man; others said, 
nay but he deceiveth the people, when he was telling 
the truth. So I shall not be surprised at any calumny 
or inj ury dispersed by them ; for I am sure in my 
conscience, before God and the world, that I write 
the truth. And let nobody mind the method in this 
account, for now I look upon the practices and 
cheats of the priests and friars in this point of purga- 
tory, as the most ridiculous, nonsensical, and roguish 
of all their tricks ; so how can a man that has been 
among them, and is now in the right way, write 
moderately, without ridiculing them ? 

33 



270 HISTORY OF THE 

I must dismiss this article with my address to the 
papist priests of England and Ireland. Some of 
them (immediately after my book was published 
and read by them) did command their parishoners 
in their respective mass houses (as I was told by a 
faithful friend) not to read my book, sub pena ex- 
communicationis. Others made frivolous remarks 
on some of my observations and matters of fact ; 
nay, a zealous Protestant having lent one of my books 
to a Roman Catholic lady, she gave it to her priest, 
and desired his opinion about it. The priest read it 
over, and corrected only five passages with his hand 
in the same book, of which I shall speak in my 
second part. Above all, this article of purgatory is 
tke hardest thing to them; but they ought to consider 
that I speak only of my country people, and if they 
complain I must crave leave to say, that by that, 
they make us believe that the Spanish contagion 
hELS reached to them, and want of the same remedy 
with the Spaniards, namely, a narrow searching into 
the matter, &c. 



PART IV. 



Of the Inquisitors and their Practices. 

In the time of King Ferdinand the fifth, and 
Queen Isabella, the mixture of Jews, Moors, and 
Christians was so great, the relapses of the new con- 
verts so frequent, and the corruptions in matters of 
religion so bare-faced in all sorts and conditions of 
people, that the cardinal of Spain thought the intro- 
ducing the inquisition could be the only way of 
stopping the course of wickedness and vice ; so as 
the sole remedy to cure the irreligious practices of 
those times, the inquisition was established in the 
year 1471, in the court, and many other dominions 
of Spain. 

The cardinal's design in giving birth to this tribu- 
nal, was only to suppress heresies, and chastise 
many horrible crimes, committed against religion, 
viz ; Blasphemy, sodomy, polygamy, sorcery, sacri- 
lege, and many others, which are also punished in 
these kingdoms by the prerogative court, but not by 
making use of so barbarous means as the inquisition 
doth. The design of the cardinal was not blamable, 
being in itself good, and approved by all the serious 
and devout people of that time, but the performance 
of it was not so, as will appear by and by. 

I can only speak of the inquisition of Saragossa, 



272 HISTORY OP THE 

for as I am treating of matters of fact, I may toll 
with confidence what I knew of it, as an eye witness 
of several tilings done there. This tribunal is com- 
posed of three inquisitors, who are absolute iudees; 
for, from their judgment there is no appeal, not ovou 
to the pope himself, nor to a general council ; as doth 
appear from what happened in the time of king 
Philip the second, when the hiquisitors having cen- 
sured the cardinal of Toleda, the pope sent for the 
process and sentence, but the inquisitors did not 
obey him, and though the council of Trent discharged 
the cardinal, notwithstanding, they insisted on the 
performance and execution of their sentence. 

The first inquisitor is a divine, the second, a casuist 
and the third, a civilian : the first and second are 
always priests, and promoted from prebends to the 
hi^h dignity of being holy inquisitors. The third 
sometimes is not a priest, though he is dressed in a 
clerical habit. The three inquititors of my time 
were, first, Don Pedro Guerrero; second, Don Fran- 
cisco Torrejon; third, Don Antonio Aliaga. This 
tribunal hath a high sheritf, and God knows how 
many constables and under olficers, besides the 
otficers that belong to the house, and that live in it; 
they have likewise an executioner: or we may say, 
tliere are as many executioners, as oliicers and judges, 
&:c.; besides these, there are many qualificators and 
lamiliares, of which I will give an account by them- 
selves. 

The inquisitors have a despotic power to command 
every living soul; and no excuse is to be given, nor 
contradiction to be made, to their orders; nav, the 



POPISH CHURCH. 273 

people have not liberty to speak nor complain in 
their misfortunes, and therefore there is a proverb 
which says, Con la inqusition chiton : Do not 
meddle with the inquisition ; or, as to the inquisition 
say nothing. This will be better understood by the 
following account of the method they make use of 
for the taking up and arresting the people : which is 
thus: 

When the inquisitors receive an information 
against any body, which is always in private, and 
with such secrecy that none can know who the infor- 
mer is (for all the informations are given in at night) 
they send their officers to the house of the acccused, 
most commonly at midnight, and in a coach, — ^they 
knock at the door, (and then all the family are in 
bed) and when some body asks from the windows 
who is there; the officers say, the holy inquisition. 
At this word, he that answered, without any dely, 
or noise, or even the liberty of giving timely notice 
to the master of the house, comes down to open the 
door. I say, without the liberty of giving timely 
notice, for when the inquisitors send the officers, they 
are sure, by the spies, that the person is within, and 
if they do not find the accused, they take up the 
whole family, and carry them to the inquisition: so 
the answerer is with good reason afraid of making 
any delay in opening the street door. Then they 
go up stairs and arrest the accused without telling a 
word, or hearing a word from any of the family, and 
with great silence putting him into the coach, they 
drive to the holy prison. If the neighbors by chance 

33* 



274 HISTORYOFTHE 

hear the noise of the coach, they dare not go to the 
window, for it is well Imown that no other coach but 
that of the inquisition is abroad at that time of night 
nay, they are so much afraid, that they dare not 
even to ask the next morning their neighbors any 
thing about it, for those that talk of any thing that 
the inquisition does, are liable to undergo the same 
punishment, and this, may be, the night following. 
So if the accused be the daughter, son, or father, &c.; 
and some friends or relations go in the morning to 
see the family, and ask the occasion of their tears 
and grief, they answer that their daughter was stolen 
away the night before, or the son, father or mother, 
(whoever the prisoner be) did not come home the 
night before, and that they suspect he was murdered, 
&c. This answer they give, because they cannot 
tell the truth without exposing themselves to the 
same misfortune; and not only this, but they cannot 
go to the inquisition to inquire for the prisoner, for they 
would be confined for that alone. So all the comfort 
the family can have in such a case, is to imagine that 
the prisoner is in China, or in the remotest part of 
the world, or in hell, where in nulhis ordo sed 
sempiternus horror inhabitat. This is the reason 
why nobody knows the persons that are in the inqui- 
sition till the sentence is published and executed, 
except those priests and friars summoned to hear 
the trial. 

The qualificators and familiares which are in the 
city and country, upon necessity, have full power to 
secure any person suspected with the same secrecy. 



POriSH CHURCH. 275 

and commit him to the nearest commissary of the 
holy office of the inquisition, and he is to take care to 
send them safely to prison; which is all done by 
night, and without any fear that the people should 
deliver the prisoner, nay, or even talk of it. 

Quail ficat or s. 

Are those, who, by order from the inquisitors, 
examine the crimes committed by the prisoners 
against the Catholic faith, and give their opinions or 
censures about it: they are obliged to secrecy as well 
as other people; but as the number of them is great, 
the inquisitors must commonly make use of ten or 
twelve of the most learned that are in the city, in 
difficult cases ; but this is only a formality, for their 
opinions and censures are not regarded, the inquisi- 
tors themselves being the absolute decisive judges. 
The distinguishing mark of a qualificator is the cross 
of the holy office, which is a medal of pure gold as 
big as a thirteen, with a cross in the middle, half 
Avhite and half black, which they wear before their 
breast; but in public functions or processions, the 
priest and friars wear another bigger cross of em- 
broidery on their cloak or habits. To be qualificator 
is a great honor to his whole family and relations, 
for this is a public testimony of t^e old Christianity 
and pure blood (as they call it) of the family. 

No nobleman covets the honor of being qualifica- 
tor, for they are all ambitious of the cross of St. James, 
of Alcantara, pf Calatravia, of Malta, and the golden 
fleece, which are the five orders of the nobility ; so 



276 HISTORY OF THE 

the honor of a quahficator is for those people, who 
though their families being not well known, are 
desirous to boast of their antiquity and christianism, 
though to obtain such honor, they pay a great sum 
of money : for, in the first place, he that desireth to 
be a quahficator, is to appear before the holy tribu- 
nal, to make a public profession of the Catholic faith, 
and to acknowledge the holy tribunal for the su- 
preme of all others, and the inquisitors for his own 
judges. This is the first step. After, he is to lay 
down on the table the certificate of his baptism, and 
the names of his parents for four generations ; the 
towns and places of their former habitations; and 
two hundred pistoles for the expenses in taking in- 
formations. 

This done, he goes home till the inquisitors send 
for him, and if they do not send for him in six 
months time he looseth the money and all hopes of 
getting the cross of quahficator; and this happens 
very often for the reasons I shall give by and by. 

The inquisitors send their commissaries into all 
the places of the new proponent's ancestors, where 
they may get some account of their lives and con- 
versations, and of the purity of their blood, and that 
they never were mixed with Jewish families, nor 
heretics, and that they were old Christians. These 
examinations are performed in the most rigorous and 
severe manner that can be; for if some of the in- 
formers and witnesses are in a falsity, they are put 
into the inquisition; so every body gives the report 
conGerning the family in question, with great cau- 



POPISH CHURCH. 277 

tion, to the best of his knowledge and memory. 
When the commissaries have taken the necessary 
informations with witnesses of. a good name, they 
examine the parish book, and take a copy of the an- 
cestors' names, the year and day of their marriages, 
and the year, day, and place of their burials. The 
commissaries then return to the inquisitors with all 
the examinations, witnesses, proofs, and convictions 
of the purity and ancient Christianity of the propo- 
nent's families, for four generations; and being again 
examined by the three inquisitors, if they find 
them real and faithful, then they send the same 
commissaries to inquire into the character, life, and 
conversation of the postulant, or demanding person, 
but in this point the commissaries pass by many 
personal failings, so when the report is given to the 
holy inquisitors, they send for the postulant and 
examine him concerning matters of faith, the holy 
Scriptures, the knowledge of the ancient fathers of 
the church, moral cases, all which is but mere 
formality, for the generality of the holy fathers them- 
selves do not take much pains in the study of those 
thiiigs, and therefore the postulant is not afraid of 
their nice questions, nor very solicitous how to 
resolve them. 

When the examination is over, they order the 
secretary to draw the patent of the grant of the holy 
cross to such an one in regard to his families' old 
purity of blood and Christianity, and to his personal 
parts and religious conversation, certifying in the 
patent, that for four generations past, none of his 



278 HISTORY OF THE 

father's or motlier's relations were at all suspected in 
points concerning the holy Roman Catholic faith, or 
mixed with Jewish or heretical blood. 

The day following, the postulant appears before 
the assembly of quaUficators in the hall of the 
uiquisition, and the first inquisitor celebrates the 
mass, assisted by the two qualificators, as deacon 
and subdeacon. One of the oldest brethren preacheth 
a sermon on that occasion, and when the mass is 
over, they make a sort of procession in the same hall, 
and after it, the inquisitor gives the book of the 
gospel to the postulant, and makes him swear the 
usual oaths; which done, the postulant, on his 
knees, receiveth the cross or medal, from the hands 
of the inquisitor, who, with a black ribbon, puts it 
on the postulant's neck, and begins to sing te deum, 
and the collect of thanks, which is the end of the 
ceremonies. Then all the assistant qualificators con- 
gratulate the new brother, and all go up to the 
inquisitor's apartment to drink chocolate, and after 
that, every one to his own dwelling place. 

Tlie new qualificator dineth with the inquisitors 
that day, and after dinner the secretary brings in a 
bill of all the fees and expenses of the informations ; 
which he must clear before he leaves the inquisition. 
Most commonly the whole comes to four hundred 
pistoles, including the two hundred he gave in the 
beginning ; but sometimes it comes to a thousand 
pi«toles, to those whose ancestors families were out 
of the kingdom, for then the commissaries expend a 
great deal more : and if it happen they find the least 



POPISH CHURCH. , 279 

spot of Jewdaism, or Heresy, in some relation of the 
family, the commissaries do not proceed any further 
in the examinations, but come back again to the 
inquisition immediately, and then the postulant is 
never sent for by the inquisitors, who keep the two 
hundred pistoles for pious uses. 

Familiai^es, 

Are always laymen, but of good sense and educa- 
tion. These wear the same cross, and for the 
granting of it, the inquisitors makethe same informa- 
tions and proofs as they make for qualificators. The 
honor and privileges are the same ; for they are not 
subject biU to the tribunal of the inquisition. Their 
businesses are not the same ; for they are only 
employed in gathering together, and inquiring after 
all books against the Catholic faith, and to watch 
the actions of suspected people. They take a turn 
sometimes into the country, but then they do not 
wear their cross openly till occasion requires it. They 
insinuate themselves into all companies, and they 
will even speak against the inquisition, and against 
religion, to try whether the people are of that senti- 
ment; in short they are spies of the inquisitors. 
They do not pay so much as the qualificators, for the 
honor of the cross, but they are obliged to take a 
turn now and then m the country at ther own 
expense. They are not so many in number as the 
qualificators, for in a trial of the inquisition, where 
all ought to be present, I once reckoned 160, and 
twice as many qualificators. I saw the list of them 



280 HISTORY OF THE 

both, i. e. of the whole kmgdom of Aragon, wherem 
are qualificators, of the secular priests, 243 ; and of 
the regular, 40G ; familiaries, 208. 

The royal castle, formerly the palace of the king 
of Aragon, called Aljafeiria, was given to the inquis- 
itors to hold their tribunal there, and prison too It 
is a musket shot distant from the city, on the river 
side. But after the battle of Almaiiza, Avhen the 
duke of Orleans came as generalissimo of the Spanish 
and French army, he thought that place necessary to 
put a strong garrison in ; so he made the marquis de 
Torsey governor of the fort of Aljafeira, and turned 
out the inquisitors ; who, being obliged, by force, to 
quit their apartments, took a large house near the 
Carmelites' convent: but two months after, find- 
ing that the place Avas not safe enough to keep 
the prisoners in, they removed to the palace of the 
earl of Tuents, in the great street called Coso, out of 
which they were turned by Monsieur de Legal, as I 
shall tell by and by. 

^ form of their public trial. 

If the trial is to be made publicly, in the hall of the 
holy office, the inquisitors summon two priests out of 
every parish church, and two regular priests out of 
every convent ; all the qualificators and familiares 
that are in the city ; the sheriff, and all the under 
officers; the secretary, and three inquisitors. All the 
aforesaid meet at the common hall on the day 
appointed for the trial at ten in the morning. The 
hall is hung in black, without any windows, or light, 



POPISH CHURGH. 281 

but what comes in through the door. At the front 
there is an image of our Saviour on the cross, under 
a black velvet canopy, and six candlesticks with six 
thick yellow wax candles on the altar's table: On 
one side there is a pulpit, with another candle, where 
the secretary reads the crimes; three chairs for th^e 
three inquisitors, and round about the hall, seats and 
chairs for the summoned priests, friars, familiares, and 
other officers. 

When the inquisitors are come in, an under officer 
crieth out, Silence, silence, silence, the holy fathers 
are coming; — -and from that very time, till all is over, 
nobody speaks nor spits; and the thought of the 
place puts every body under respect, fear, and 
attention. The holy fathers, with their hats on their 
heads, and serious countenances, go, and kneeling 
down before the altar, the first inquisitor begins to 
give out, Veni Creator Spiritus, Mentos tuorum 
■visit a, &c. And the congregation sing the rest, and 
the collect being said by him also, every body sits 
down. The secretary then goes up to the pulpit, 
and the holy father rings a small silver bell, which 
is the signal for bringing in the criminal. What is 
done afterwards will be known by the following trial 
and instances, at which I was present, being one of 
the youngest priests of the cathedral, and therefore 
obliged to go to those dismal tragedies; in which, 
the first thing, after the criminal comes in, and kneels 
down before the inquisitors, who receives a severe^ 
bitter correction from the inquisitor, who measures 
it according to the nature of the crimes committed 

34 



282 HISTORY or THE 

by the criminal f of all which, to the best of my 
memory, I will give an account in the first IriaL 

Trial I. 

Of the rererend father Joseph Sylvestre, Francis- 
can friar; and the mother Mary of Jesus, abbess of 
the monastery of Epila, of Franciscan nuns. Father 
Joseph was a tall, lusty man, forty years of age, and 
had been twelve years professor of philosophy and 
divinity in the great convent of St. Francis. *Sor 
Mary was thirty-two years old, mighty witty, and 
of an agreeable countenance. These two criminals 
were drest in brown gowns, painted all over with 
flames of fire representing hell, a thick rope tied 
about their necks, and yellow wax candles in their 
hands. Both, in this dull appearance, came and 
prostrated themselves at the inquisitor's feet, and the 
first holy father began to correct them in the follow- 
ing words : 

Unworthy creatures, how can our Catholic Roman 
faith be preserved pure, if those who, by their office 
and ministry, ought to recommend its observance in 
the most earnest manner, are not only the first, but 
the greatest transgressors of it ? Thou that teachest 
another not to steal, not to commit fornication, dost 
thou steal and commit sacrilege, which is worse than 
fornication? In these things we could show you 
pity and compassion ; but as to the transgressions of 
the express commandments of our church, and the 

*Sor is a title given to the nuns, which answers to Sister, as 
coming from the Latin Sorror. 



POPISH CHURCH. 283 

respect due to us the judges of the holy tribunal, we 
cannot; therefore your sentence is pronounced by 
these holy fathers of pity and compassion, lord 
inquisitors, as you shall hear now, and afterwards 
undergo. 

Sor Mary was in a flood of tears; but father 
Joseph, who was a learned man, with great boldness 
and assurance, said. What, do you call yourselves 
holy fathers ef pity and compassion? I say unto 
you, that you are three devils on earth, fathers of all 
manner of mischief, barbarity and lewdness. 

No in(|^uisitors were ever treated at such a rate 
before, and we were thinking that friar Joseph was 
to suffer fire, for this high affront to them. But Don 
Pedro Guerrero, first judge, though a severe, haughty, 
passionate man, ordered only a gag, or bit of a bridle 
to be put into his mouth ; but friar Joseph flying into 
a fury, said, I despise all your torments, for my 
crimes are not against you, but against God, who is 
the only judge of my conscience, and you do yet 
worse things, &c. 

The inquisitors ordered to carry him to prison, 
while the crimes and sentence were reading. So he 
was carried in, and the nun with great humility 
heard the accusation and sentence. 

The secretary, by order, began to read, 1st. That 
friar Joseph was made father confessor, and sor Mary 
mother abbess. That in the beginning they showed 
a great example of humility and virtue to the nuns ; 
but afterwards all this zeal of theirs appeared to be 
mere hypocrisy, and a eover for their wicked actions : 



2S4- HISTORY OF THE 

for as she had a grate in the wall of friar Joseph's 
room, they both did eat in private, and fast in public ; 
That the said friar Joseph was found in bed with sor 
Mary by such a nun ; and that she was found with 
child, and took a remedy to prevent the public proof 
of it: That both friar Joseph and sor Mary had 
robbed the treasure of the convent ; and that one day 
they were contriving how to go away into another 
country, and that they had spoken in an irreverent 
manner of the pope and inquisitors. 

This was the whole accusation against them, 
which friar Joseph and sor Mary had denied before, 
saymg, it was only hatred and malice of the infor- 
mers against them, and desired the witness^^s to be 
produced before them; and this being against the 
custom of the holy office, the holy fathers had pro- 
nounced the sentence, viz. That friar Joseph should 
be deprived of all the honors of his order, and of 
active and passive voice, and be removed to a coun- 
try convent, and be whipped three times a week for 
the space of six weeks. That sor Mary should be 
deprived of her abbacy, and removed into another 
monastery: this punishment being only for their 
audacious and unrespectful manner of talking against 
the pope and inquisitors. 

Indeed, by this sentence we did believe, that the 
crimes they were charged with were only an inven- 
tion of the malicious nuns; but poor friar Joseph 
suffered for his indiscretion; for though the next day 
the inquisitors gave out that he escaped out of prison 
we really believe he had been strangled in tho 
inquisition. 



POPISH CHURCH. 285 

This was the first trial I was present at, and the 
second was that of Mary Guerrero and friar Michael 
Navarro, of which I have given an account in the 
chapter of auricular confessions. After these two 
trials the inquisitors were turned out by monsieur de 
Legal, and for eight months we had no inquisition. 
How this thing happened, is worthy of observation; 
therefore I shall give a particular account of it, that 
I may not deprive the public of so pleasant a story. 

In 1706, after the battle of Alamanza, the Spanish 
army being divided into two bodies, one through the 
kingdom of Valencia, to the frontiers of Catalonia, 
commanded by the duke of Berwick; the other 
composed of the French auxiliary troops, 14,000 in 
number, went to the conquest of Arragon, whose 
inhabitants had declared themselves for king Charles 
III. The body of French troops was commanded 
by his highness the duke of Orleans, who was the 
generalissimo of the whole army. Before he came, 
near the city, the magistrates went to meet him, and 
offered the keys of the city, but he refused them, 
saying, he was to enter it through a breach; and so 
he did, treating the people as rebels to their lawful 
king. And when he had ordered all the civil and 
military affairs of the city, he went down to the 
frontiers of Catalonia, leaving his lieutenant-general, 
monsieur de Jofreville, governor of the town. But 
this governor being a mild tempered man, was loath 
to follow the orders left him as to the contribution 
money: So he was called to the army, and the 
lieutenant-general, monsieur de Legal, came in 

34* 



286 HISTORY OF THE 

his place. The city Avas to pay 1,000 crowns a 
month, for the duke^s table, and every house a pistole^ 
which by computation made the sum of 18,000 
pistoles a month, which were paid eight months 
together; besides this, the convents were to pay a 
donative, or gift, proportionable to their rents. The 
college of Jesuits were charged 2,000 pistoles, the 
Dominicians 1,000, Augustins 1,000, Carmelites 
1,000, &c. Monsieur de Legal sent first to the Jesuits 
who refused to pay, saying, it was against the eccle- 
siastical immunity: But Legal, not acquainted with 
these sort of excuses, sent four companies of grena- 
diers to quarter in their college at discretion : The 
father sent immediately an express to the Idng^s 
father confessor, who was a Jesuit, with complaints 
about the case : But the grenadiers did make more 
expedition in their plundering and mischiefs, than 
the courier did in his journey. So the fathers, seeing 
the damage all their goods had already received, and. 
fearing some violence upon their treasure, went to 
pay monsieur Legal the 2,000 pistoles as a donative. 
Next to this he sent to the Dominicans. The friars 
of this order are all familiares of the holy office, and 
depending upon it, they did excuse themselves in a 
civil manner, saying, they had no money, and if 
monsieur de Legal had a mind to insist upon the 
demand of the 1,000 pistoles, they could not ^peij 
them, without sending to him the silver bodies of the 
saints. The friars thought by this to frighten mon- 
sieur de Legal, and if he was so resolute as to accept 
the offer, to send the saints in a procession, and raiso 



POPISH CHURCH. 2S7 

the people, crying out Heresy^ Heresy. De Legal 
answered to the friars, that he was obliged to obey 
the duke's orders, and so he would receive the silver 
saints : So the friars all in a sole mn procession, and 
with lighted candles in their hands, carried the saints 
to the governor Legal: And as soon as he heard of 
this public devotion of the friars, he ordered immedi- 
ately four companies of grenadiers to line the streets 
on both sides,before his house, and to keep their fuzees 
in one hand, and a lighted candle in the other, to 
receive the saints with the same devotion and vene- 
ration. And though the friars endeavored to raise 
the people, nobody was so bold as to expose them- 
selves to the army, there being left eight regiments 
to keep the mob under fear and subjection. Legal 
received the saints, and sent them to the mint, 
promising to the father prior to give him what 
remained above the 1,000 pistoles. The friars being 
disappointed in the project of raising the people, 
went to the inquisitors to desire them to release im- 
mediately their saints out of the mint, by excommu- 
nicating monsieur de Legal, which the inquisitors 
did upon the spot; and the excommunication being 
drawn and signed, they gave strict orders to their 
secretary to go and read it before monsieur de Legal 
which he did accordingly : And monsieur the gov- 
ernor, far from flying into a passion, with a mild 
countenace took the paper from the secretary, and 
said, Pray, tell your masters, the inquisitors, that I 
will answer them to-morrow morning. The secretary 
went away fully satisfied with Legal's civil beha- 



288 HISTORY OP THE 

viour. The same minute, as if he was inspired by 
the holy spirit, without reflecting upon any conse- 
quence, he called his own secretary, he bid him draw 
a copy of the excommunication, putting out the 
name of Legal, and inserting in its place the Holy 
Inquisitors. The next morning he gave orders for 
four regiments to be ready, and sent them along with 
his secretary to the inquisition, with command to 
read the excommunication to the inquisitors them- 
selves, and if they made the least noise, to turn them 
out, open all the prisons, and quarter two regiments 
there. He was not afraid of the people, for the duke 
took away all the arms from every individual person, 
and on pain of death commanded that nobody 
should keep but a short sword; and besides, four 
regiments were under arms, to prevent all sorts of 
tumult and disturbance: So his secretary went and 
performed the governor's orders. The inquisitors 
were never more surprised than to see themselves 
excommunicated by a man that had no authority 
for it, and resenting it, they began to cry out. War 
against the heretic de Legal; this is a public insult 
against our Catholic faith. To which the secretary 
answered, Holy Inquisitors, the king wants this 
house to quarter his troops in, so walk out imme 
diately: And as they continued in their excla- 
mations, he took the inquisitors, with a strong guard, 
and carried them to a private house destined for 
them; but when they saw the laws of military dis- 
cipline, they begged leave to take their goods along 
with them, which was immediately granted; and the 



POPISH CHURCH. 289 

next day they set out for Madrid, to complain to tlie 
king, who gave them this shght answer: I am very 
sorry for it, but I cannot help it; my crown is in dan- 
ger and my grandfather defends it, and this is done 
by his troops; if it had been done by my troops, I 
by should apply a speedy remedy: But ^t-qu must 
have patience till things take another turn. So the 
inquisitors were obliged to have patience for eight 
months. 

The secretary of monsieur de Legal, according to 
his orders, opened the doors of all the prisons, and 
then the wickedness of the inquisitors were detected, 
for four hundred prisoners got liberty that day, and 
among them sixty young women were found very well 
drest, who were, in all human appearance, the num- 
ber of the three inquisitors' Seraglio, as some of 
them did own afterwards. But this discovery, so 
dangerous to the holy tribunal, was in some measure 
prevented by the archbishop, who Avent to desire 
monsieur de Legal to send those women to his 
palace, and that his grace would take care of them; 
and that in the mean time, he ordered an ecclesiasti- 
cal censure to be published against those that should 
defame, by groundless reports, the holy office of the 
inquisition. The governor answered to his grace, he 
would gi\re him all the assistance for it he could; 
but as to the young women, it was not in his power, 
the officers having hurried them away: And indeed 
it was not; for it is not to be supposed that the in- 
quisitors, having the absolute power to confine in 
their ^era^/zo whomsoever they had a fancy for, would 



290 HISTORY OF THE 

choose ordinary girls, but the best and handsomest 
of the city: So the French officers were all so glad 
of getting such fine mistresses, that they immediately ' 
took them away, knowing very well they would 
follow them to the end of the world for fear of beins: 
confined again. In my travels in France afterwards, 
I met with one of those women at Rotchfort, in the 
same inn I went to lodge in that night, who had 
been brought there by the son of the master of the 
inn, formerly lieutenant in the French service in 
Spain, who had married her for her extraordinary 
beauty and good parts. She was the daughter of 
counseller Ballabriga, and I laiew her before she 
was taken up by the inquisitors' orders; but thought 
she was stolen by some officer; for this was given 
out by her father, who had died of grief and vexa- 
tion, without the comfort of opening his trouble, nay, 
ev^en to his confessors, so great is the fear of the in- 
quisitors there. 

I was very glad to meet one of my country-wo- 
man in my travels; and as she did not remember me 
especially in my then clisguise; I was taken for 
nothing but an officer. I resolved to stay there the 
next day, to have the satisfaction of conversing with 
her, and have a plain account of what we could not 
know in Saragossa, for fear of incuring the ecclesi- 
astical censure, published by the archbishop. Now 
my conversation with her being a propos, and ne- 
cessary to discover the roguery of the inquisitors, it 
seems proper to divert the reader with it. 

Mr. Faulcaut, my country-woman's husband, was 



POPISH CHURCH. 291 

then at Paris, upon some pretensions ; and though 
her father and mother-in-law were continually at 
home, they did not mistrust me, I being a country- 
man of their daughter-in-law, who freely came to 
my room at any time ; and as I was desiring her not 
to expose herself to any uneasines on my account, 
she answered me. Captain, we are now in France, 
not in Saragossa, and we enjoy here all manner of 
freedom, without going beyond the limits of sobriety ; 
so you may be easy in that point, for my father and 
mother-in-law have ordered me to be obliging to 
you, nay, and to beg the favor of you to take your 
repose here this week, if your business permit it, and 
to be pleased to accept this their small entertainment 
on free-cost, as a token of their esteem to me, and 
my country-gentleman. If it had not been for my 
continual fear of being discovered, I would have 
accepted the proposition ; so I thanked her, and 
begged her to return my hearty acknowledgement to 
the gentleman and lad}^ of the house, and that I was 
very sorry, that my pressing business, at Paris, 
would prevent and hinder me to enjoy so agreeable 
company : but if my business was soon despatched 
at Paris, then, at my return, I would make a halt 
there, may-be for a fortnight. Mrs. Faulcaut w^as 
very much concerned at my haste to go away : but 
she did make me promise to come back again that 
way. So amidst these compliments from one to 
another, supper came in, and we went to it, the old 
man and woman, their daughter and I : none but 
Mrs. Faulcaut could speak Spanish, so she was my 



292 HISTORY OF THE 

interpreter, for I could not speak French. After 
supper, the landlord and landlady left us alone, and 
I began to beg of her the favor to tell me the accident 
of her prison, of her sufferings in the inquisition, and 
of every thing relating to the holy office ; and fear 
not, (said I,) for we are in France, and not in Sara- 
gossa ; here is no inquisition, so you may safely open 
your heart to a countryman of yours. I will with 
all my heart, (said she,) and to satisfy your curiosity, 
I shall begin with the occasion of my imprisonment, 
which was as follows. 

I went one day with my mother to visit the coun- 
tess of Attarass, and I met there Don Francisco Tor- 
rejon, her confessor, and second inquisitor of the 
holy office. After we had drunk chocolate, he asked 
my age, and my confessor's name, and so many 
mtricate questions about religion, that I could not 
answer him. His serious countenance did frighten 
me, and as he perceived my fear, he desired the 
countess to tell me. that he was not so severe as I 
took him to be: after which he caressed me in the 
most obliging manner in the world; he gave me his 
hand, which I kissed with great respect and modesty; 
and when he went away, he told me, My dear child, 
I shall remember you till the next time. I did not 
mind the sense of the words ; for I was unexperi- 
enced in matters of gallantry, being only fifteen years 
old at that time. Indeed he did remember me, for 
the very night following, while in bed, hearing a 
hard knocking at the door, the maid went to the 
window, and asking, Who is there? I heard say, 



POPISH CHURCH. 293 

The holy inquisition. I could not forbear crying out. 
Father, father, I am ruined for ever. My dear 
father got up, and inquiring what the matter was, I 
answered him, with tears, The inquisition; and he, 
for fear that the maid should not open the door as 
quick as such a case required, went himself, as 
another Abraham, to open the door, and to offer his 
dear daughter to the fire of the inquisitors, and as I 
did not cease to cry out, as if I was a mad girl, my 
dear father, all in tears, did put in my mouth a bit of 
a bridle, to show his obedience to the holy office, and 
his zeal for the Catholic faith, for he thought I had 
committed some crime against religion; so the officers 
gave me but time to put on my clothes, took me 
down into the coach, and without giving me the 
satisfaction of embracing my dear father and mother, 
they carried me into the inquisition. I did expect to 
die that very night; but when they carried me into 
a noble room, well furnished, and an excellent bed 
in it, I was quite surprised. The officers left me^ 
there, and immediately a maid came in with a salver 
of sweetmeats and cinnamon water, desiring me to 
take some refreshment before I went to bed: I told 
her that I could not ; but that I should be obliged to 
her, if she could tell me whether I was to die that 
night or not? Die, (said she,) you do not come here 
to die, but to live like a princess, and you shall want 
nothing in the world but the liberty of going out ; 
and now pray mind nothing, but to go to bed, and 
sleep easy, for to-morrow you shall see wonders in 
this house, a,nd as I am chosen to be your waiting 

35 



294 HISTORY OF THE 

maid, I hope you will be very kind to me. I was 
going to ask her some questions, but she told me. 
Madam, I have not leave to tell you any thing else 
till to-morrow, only that nobody shall come to dis- 
turb you; and now I am going about some business 
and I will come back presently, for my bed is in the 
closet near your bed: So she left me there for a 
quarter of an hour. The great amazement I was in, 
took away all my senses, or the free exercise of them, 
for I had not liberty to think of my parents; nor of 
grief, nor of the danger that was so near me: So in 
this suspension of thought, the waiting-maid came 
and locked the chamber door after her, and told me. 
Madam, let us go to bed, and only tell me at what 
time in the morning you will have the chocolate 
ready ? I asked her name, and she told it was Mary. 
Mary, for God's sake, (said I,) tell me whether I 
come to die or not? I have told you, madam, that 
you came (she said) to live as one of the happiest 
creatures in the world. And as I observed her re- 
seivedness, I did not ask her any questions: So re- 
commending myself to God Almighty, and to our 
lady of Pilar, and preparing myself to die, I went to 
bed, but could not sleep one minute. I was up with 
the day, but Mary slept till six of the clock : Then 
she got up, and wondering to see me up, she said to 
me, Pray, madam, will you drink chocolate now? 
Do what you please (said I); then she left me half 
an hour alone, and she came back with a silver plate 
with two cups of chocolate, and some biscuit on it. 
I drank one cup, and desired her to drink the other, 



POPISH CHURCH. 295 

which she did. Well, Mary, (said I,) can you give 
iiie any account of the reason of my being here ? 
IS* ot yet, madam, (said she,) but only have patience 
for a little while. With this answer she left me; 
and an hour after came again with two baskets, with 
a line holland shift, a hoUand under petticoat, with 
fine lace round it; two silk petticoats and a little 
Spanish waistcoat, with a gold fringe all over it; 
with combs and ribbons, and every thing suitable to 
a lady of higher quality than I: But my greatest 
surprise was to see a gold snuff-box, with a picture 
of Don Francisco T<orrejon in it Then I soon un- 
derstood the meaning of my confinement. So I 
considered with myself, that to refuse the present 
would be the occasion of my immediate death; and 
to accept of it, was to give to him, even on the first 
day, too great encouragement against my honor. 
But I found, as I thought then, a medium in the 
case ; so I said, Mary, pray give my service to Don 
Francisco Torrejon, and tell him, that as I could not 
bring my clothes with me last night, honesty permits 
me to accept of these clothes, which are necessary to 
keep me decent; but since I take no snuff, I beg his 
lordship to excuse me, if I do not accept this box. 
Mary went to him with this answer, and came again 
with a picture nicely set in gold, with four diamonds at 
the four corners of it, and told me, that his lordship 
was mistaken, and that he desired me to accept that 
picture, which would be a great favor to him; and 
while I was thinking with myself what to do, Mary 
said to me, Pray, madam^ take my poor advice. 



296 HISTORY OF THE 

accept the picture, and every thing that he sends to 
you; for consider, that if you do not consent and 
comply with every thing he has a mind for, you will 
soon be put to death, and nobody will defend you; 
but if you are obliging and kind to him, he is a very 
complaisant and agreeable gentleman, and will be a 
charming lover, and yon will be here like a queen, 
and he will give you another apartment, with a fine 
garden, and many young ladies shall come to visit 
you: So I advise you to send a civil answer to him, 
and desire a visit from him, or else you will soon 
begin to repent yourself dear God, (said I,) must 
I abandon my honor without any remed}?-? If I 
oppose his desire, he by force will obtain it. So, 
full of confusion, I bid Mary to give him what ans- 
we'f she thought fit. She was very glad of my 
humble submission, and went to give Bon Francisco 
my answer. She came back a few minutes after, 
all overjoyed, to tell me, that his lordship would 
honor me with his company at supper, and that he 
could not come sooner on account of some business 
that called him abroad ; but in the mean time desired 
me to mind nothing, but how to divert myself, and 
to give to Mary my measure for a suit of clothes, 
and order her to bring me every thing I could wish 
for. Mary added to this. Madam, I may call you 
now my mistress, and must tell you, that I have 
been in the holy office these fourteen years, and I 
know the customs of it very well; but because 
silence is imposed upon me under pain of deatli, I 
cannot tell you any thing but what cancerns your 



POPISH CHURCH. 297 

person: So, in the first place, do not oppose the 
holy father's will and pleasure: Secondly, if you see 
some young ladies here, never ask them the occasion 
of their being here, nor any thing of their business, 
neither will they ask you any thing of this nature, 
and take care not to tell them any thing of your 
being here ; you may come and divert yourself with 
them at such hours as are appointed; you shall have 
music, and all sorts of recreations; three days hence 
you shall dine with them; they are all ladies of 
quality, young and merry, and this is the best of 
lives; you will not long for going abroad, you will 
be so well diverted at home ; and when your time is 
expired, then the holy fathers will send you out of 
this country, and marry you to some nobleman. 
Never mention the name of Don Francisco, nor your 
name to any. If you see here some young ladies of 
your acquaintance in the city, they will never take 
notice of your formerly knowing each other, though 
they will talk with you of indifferent matters; so 
take care not to speak any thing of your family. 

All these things together made me astonished, or 
rather stupified, and the whole seemed to me a piece 
of enchantment so that I could not imagine what 
to think of it. With this lesson she left me, and told 
me she was going to order my dinner ; and every 
time she went out, she locked the door after her. 
There were but two high windows in my chamber, 
and I could see nothing through them; but examin- 
ing the room all over, I found a closet with all sorts 
of historical and profane books, and every thing 

35* 



298 HISTORY OP THE 

necessary for writing. So I spent my time till the 
dinner came in, reading some diverting amorous 
stories, which was a great satisfaction to me. When 
Mary came with the things for the table, I told her 
that I was inclined to sleep, and that I had rather 
sleep than go to dinner; so she asked me whether she 
should awaken me or not, and at what time ? Two 
hours hence (said I,) so I lay down and fell asleep, 
which was a great refreshment to me. At the time 
fixed she wakened me, and I went to dinner, at 
which was every thing that could satisfy the m.ost 
nice appetite. After dinner she left me alone, and 
told me, if I wanted any thing, I might ring the bell 
and call: So I went to the closet again, and spent 
three hours in reading. I think really I was under 
some enchantment, for I was in a perfect suspension 
of thought, so as to remember neither father nor 
mother, for this run least in my mind, and what was at 
that time most in it, I do not know. Mary came 
and told me, that Don Francisco was come home, 
and that she thought he would come to see me very 
soon, and begged of me to prepare myself to receive 
him with all manner of kindness. At seven in the 
evening Don Francisco came, in his night-gown and 
night-cap, not with the gravity of an inquisitor, but 
with the gaiety of an officer. He saluted me with 
great respect and civihty, and told me that he had 
designed to keep my company at supper, but could 
not that night, having some business of consequence 
to finish in his closet; and that his coming to see me 
was only out of the respect he had for my family, 



POPISH CHURCH. 299 

and to tell me at the same time, that some of my 
lovers had procured my ruin forever, accusing me in 
matters of religion; that the informations were taken, 
and the sentence pronounced against me, to be burnt 
alive, in a dry pan, with a gradual fire, but that he, 
out of pity and love to my family, had stopped the 
execution of it. Each of these words was a mortal 
stroke on my heart, and knowing not what I was 
doing, I threw myself at his feet, and said, Seignor, 
have you stopped the execution for ever? That 
only belongs to you to stop it, or not (said he); and 
with this he wished me a good night. As soon as he 
went away, I fell a crying; but Mary came and asked 
me what obliged me to cry so bitterly ? Ah ! good 
Mary, (said I,) pray tell me what is the meaning of 
the dry pan and gradual fire ? For I am in expec- 
tation of nothing but death, and that by it. O, pray 
never fear, you will see another day the pan and 
gradual fire; but they are made for those that oppose 
the holy fathers' will, not for you, who are so ready 
to obey them. But, pray, was Don Francisco very 
civil and obliging ? I do not know, (said I,) for his 
discourse has put me out of my wits; that I Imow 
that he saluted me with respect and civility, but he 
has left me abruptly. Well, (said Mary,) you do 
not know him; he is the most obliging man in the 
world, if people are civil with him, and if not, he is 
as unmerciful as Nero ; and so for your own preser- 
vation, take care to oblige him in all respects: now, 
pray go to supper, and be easy. I was so much trou- 
bled in mind with thoughts of the dry pan and gradual 



300 HISTORYOPTHE 

fire, that I could neither eat nor sleep that night. 
Early in the morning Mary got up, and told me, that 
nobody was yet up in the house, and that she would 
show me the dry pan and gradual fire, on condition, 
that I should keep it a secret for her sake, and my 
own too; which I having promised her, she took me 
along with her and showed me a dark room with a 
thick iron door, and within it an oven, and a large 
brass pan upon it, with a cover of the same, and a 
lock to it ; the oven was burning at that time, and I 
asked Mary for what use the pan was there ? And 
she, without giving me any answer, took me by the 
hand, out of that place, and carried me into a large 
room, where she showed me a thick wheel, covered 
on both sides with thick boards, and opening a little 
window, in the centre of it, desired me to look with 
a candle on the inside of it, and I saw all the circum- 
ference of the wheel set with sharp razors. After 
that she showed me a pit full of serpents and toads-. 
Then she said to me. Now, my good mistress, I'll tell 
you the use of these three things. The dry pan and 
gradual fire are for heretics, and those that oppose 
the holy father's will and pleasure, for they are put all 
naked and alive into the pan, and the cover of it being 
locked up, the executioner begins to put in the oven 
a ^mall fire, and by degrees he augmenteth it till the 
body is burnt to ashes. The second is designed for 
those that speak against the pope, and the holy 
fathers; and they are put within the wheel, and the 
door being locked, the executioner turns the wheel 
till the person is dead. And the third is for those 



POPISH CHURCH. 301 

that contGmn the images, and refuse to give the due 
respect and veneration to ecclesiastical persons, for 
they are thrown into the pit, and there they become 
the food of serpents and toads. 

Then Mary said to me, that another day she would 
show me torments for public sinners, and transgres- 
sors of the five commandrnxcnts of our holy mother 
the church; so I, in a deep amazement, desired Mary 
to show me no more places, for the very thoughts of 
those three, which I had seen, were enough to terrfy 
me to the heart. So we went to my room, and she 
charged me again to be very obedient to all the com- 
mands Don Francisco should give me, or to be assured 
if I did not I was to undergo the torment of the dry 
pan. Indeed I conceived such an horror for the gradual 
fire, that I was not mistress of my senses, nay, nor of 
my thoughts: so I told Mary that I would follow 
her advice. If you are in that disposition (said she) 
leave off all fears and apprehensions, and expect 
nothing but pleasure and satisfaction, and all manner 
of recreation, and you shall begin to experience some 
of these things this very day. Now let me dress you 
for you must goto wish a good morrow to Don Fran- 
cisco, and to breakfast with him. I thought really 
this was a great honor to me, and some comfort to 
my troubled mind; so I made all the hast I could, 
and Mary conveyed me through a gallery into Don 
Francisco's apartment. He was still in bed, and 
he desired me to sit down by him, and ordered Mary 
to bring the chocolate two hours after, and with this 
she left me alone with Don Francisco. Mary came 



302 HISTORY OF THE 

with the chocolate, and kneelmg down, paid me 
homage as if I was a queen; and served me first with 
a cup of chocolate, still on her knees, and bade me 
give another cup to Don Francisco myself, which he 
received mighty graciously, and having drunk up 
the chocolate, she went out. So at ten of the clock, 
Mary came again, and dressing me, she desired me 
to go along with her, and leaving Don Francisco in 
bed, she carried me into another chamber very 
delightful, and better furnished than the first; for the 
windows of it were lower, and I had the pleasure of 
seeing the river and the gardens on the other side out 
of it. Then Mary told me. Madam, the young ladies 
of this house will come before dinner to welcome 
you, and make themselves happy in the honor of 
your company, and I will take you to dine with 
them. Pray remember the advices I have given you 
already, and do not make yourself unhappy by ask- 
ing useless questions. She had not finished these 
words, when I saw entering my apartment, (which 
consisted of a large anti-chamber and a bed-chamber 
with two large closets) a troop of young beautiful la- 
dies, finely dressed, who all, one after another, came 
to embrace me, and to wish me joy. My senses were 
in a perfect suspension, and I could not speak a word, 
nor answer their kind compliments. But one of 
them seeing me so silent, said to me, Madam, the 
solitude of this place will affect you in the begining, 
but when you begin to be in our company, and feel 
the pleasure of our amusements and recreations, you 
will quit your pensivethoughts. Now we beg of you 



POPISH CHURCH. 303 

the honor to come and dine with us to-day, and 
henceforth three days in a week. I thanked them, 
and we went to dinner. That day we had all sorts 
of exquisite meats, and were served with delicate 
fruits and sweeet-meats. The room was very long, 
with two tables on each side, another at the front of 
it, and I reckoned in it that day, fifty-two young 
ladies, the oldest of them not exceeding twenty-four 
years of age; six maids served the whole number of 
us, but my Mary waited on me alone at dinner. 
After dinner we went up stairs into a long gallery, 
all round about with lattice windows; where, some 
of us playing on instruments of music, others playing 
at cards, and others walking about, we spent three 
hours together. At last, Mary came up, ringing a 
small bell, which was the signal to retire into our 
rooms, as they told me; but Mary said to the whole 
company. Ladies, to-day is a day of recreation, so 
you may go into what room you please, until eight 
o'clock, and then you are to go into your own cham- 
bers: so they all desired leave to go with me to my 
apartment, to spend the time there, and I was very 
glad that they preferred my chamber to another ; so 
all going down together, we found in my anti-cham- 
ber a table, with all sorts of sweet-meats upon it, 
iced cinnamon water, and almonds milk, and the like, 
every one ate and drank, but nobody spoke a word, 
touching the sumptuousness of the table, nor men- 
tioned any thing concerning the inquisition of the holy 
fathersw So we spent our time in merry, indifferent 
conversation, till eight o'clock. Then every one 



304 HISTORY OP THE 

retired into their own room, and Mary told me tliat 
Don Francisco did wait for me, so we went to his 
apartmentment, and supper behig ready, we both 
alone sat at table, attended by my maid only. After 
supper Mary went away, and next morning she 
served us with chocolate, which we drank, and then 
slept till ten o'clock. Then we got up, and my 
waiting maid carried me into my chamber, where I 
found ready, two suits of clothes, of a rich brocade, 
and every thing else, suitable to a lady of the first 
rank. I put on one, and when I was quite dressed, 
the young ladies came to wish me a good morrow, all 
dressed in different clothes, and better than the day 
before, and we spent the second and third days in 
the same recreation. But the third morning after 
drinking chocolate, as the custom was, Mary told me 
that a lady was waiting for me in the other room, 
and desired me to get up, with a haughty look. I 
thought that it Avas to give me some new comfort 
and diversion; but I was very much mistaken, for 
Mary conveyed me into a young lady's room, not 
eight feet long, which was a perfect prison, and 
there, before the lady, told me. Madam, this is your 
room, and this young lady your bedfellow and com- 
rade, and left me there with this unkind command. 
heavens! thought I, what is this that has hap- 
pened to me ? I fancied myself out of grief, and I 
perceived now the beginning of my vexation. What 
is this, dear lady, (said I) is this an enchanted palace, 
or a hell upon earth ? I have lost father and mother 
and what is worse, I have lost my honor and my 



POPISHCHURGH. 305 

soul forever. My new companion, seeing me like a 
mad woman, took me by the hands, and said to me. 
Dear sister, (for this is the name I will give yon 
henceforth) leave off your crying, leave off your 
grief and vexation for you can do nothing by such 
extravagant complaints, but heap coals of fire on your 
head, or rather under your body. Your misfortunes 
and ours are exactly of a piece: you suffer nothing 
that we have not suffered before you: but we are not 
allowed to show our grief, for fear of greater evils. 
Pray, take good courage, and hope in God; for he 
will find some way or other to deliver us out of this 
hellish place; but above all things, take care not to 
show any uneasiness before Mary, who is the only 
instrument of our torments, or comfort, and have 
patience till we go to bed, and then Avithout any fear, 
I will tell you more of the matter. ,We do not dine 
with the other ladies to-day, and may be, we shall 
*have an opportunity of talking before night, which I 
hope will be of some comfort to you. I was in a 
most desperate condition, but my new sister Leonora 
(this was her name) prevailed so much upon me^ 
that I overcame my vexation before Mary came 
again, to bring our dinner, which was very different 
from that I had three days before. After dinner, 
another maid came to take away the platter and 
knife, for we had but one for us both, so locked the 
door. 

Now, my sister, said she, we need not fear being 
disturbed all this night: so I may safely instruct you 
if you will promise me, upon the hopes of salvation, 

36 



306 HISTORYOFTHE 

not to reveal the secret, while you are in this place^ 
of the things I shall tell yon, I threw myself down 
at her feet, and promised secrecy. Then she begun 
to say: My dear sister, you think it a hard case 
that has happened to you, I assure you all the ladies 
in this house have already gone through the same^ 
and in time you shall know all their stories, as they 
hope to know yours. I suppose that Mary has been 
the chief instrument of your fright, as she has been 
of ours, and I warrant you she has shown to voii 
some horrible places, though not all, and that at the 
only thought of them, you were so much troubled 
in your mind, that you have chosen the same way 
we did to get some ease in our heart. By what has 
happened to us, we know that Don Francisco has 
been your Nero; for the thre e colors of our clothes 
are the distinguishing tokens of the three holy fathers 
The red silk belongs to Francisco, the blue to Guej- 
rero, and the green to Aliaga. For they used to 
give, the three first days, these colors to tho se ladies 
that they bring for their use. We are strictly com- 
manded to make all demonstrations'of joy, and to be 
very merry three days, when a young lady comes 
here as we did with you, and you must do with others. 
But after it we live like prisoners, without seeing any 
living soul but the six maids, and Mary, who is the 
house-keeper. We dine all of us, in the hall, three 
days a week, and three days in our rooms. When 
any of the holy fathers have a mind for one of his 
slaves, Mary comes for her at nine of the clock, and 
conveyeth her to his apartment: but as they have so 



POPISH CHURCH. 307 

^ian5r, the turn comes, may -be once in a month,except 
for those who have the honor to give them more 
satisfaction than ordinary, those are sent for often. 
Some nights Mary lea,ves the door of our rooms 
open, and that is a sign that some of the fathers have 
a mind to come that night, but he comes in so silent 
that we do not laiow whether he is our own patron 
or not. If one of us happen to be with child, she is 
removed to better -chamber, and she sees no person 
but the maid till she is delivered. The child is sent 
away, and we do not know where it is gone. Mary 
does not suffer quarrels between us, for If one 
happens to be troublesome ,she is bitterly chastised 
for it: "So we are always under ""a continual fear, 
I have been in this house these six years, and I was 
not fourteen years of age, when the officers took me 
from my father's house, and I have been brought to 
bed but once. We are at present fffty-two young, 
ladies, and we loose every year six or eight, but we 
do not know, where they are sent; but at the same 
time we get new ones, and sometmies I have seen here 
seventy-three ladies. All our continual torment is 
to tliink, and with great reason-, that when the holy 
fathers are tired of one, they put her to death; for 
they will never run the hazard of being discovered 
in these misdemeanors i So, though we cannot 
oppose their comm-ands, and therefore we commit 
these enormities, yet we still fervently pray God and 
blessed mother, to forgive us them, since it is against 
our wills we do them, and to preserve us from death 
iu this house. So my dear sister, arm yourself with 



SOS HISTORY OF THE 

patience, and put your trust in God, who will be our 
only defender and deliver. 

This discourse of Leonora did ease me in some 
measure, and I found every thing as she had told 
me. And so we lived together eighteen months, in 
which time we lost eleven ladies, and we got nine- 
teen new ones. I knew all their stories, which I 
cannot tell you to night, but if you will be so kind 
as to stay here this week, you will not think your 
time lost when you come to know them alt. I did 
promise her to stay that week, with a great deal o/ 
pleasure and satisfaction; but though it was very 
late, and the people of the house were retired, I beg- 
ged her to make an end of the story concerning 
herself, which she did in the following manner: 

After the eighteen months, one night, Mary came 
and ordered us to follow her^ and going down stairs-, 
she bade us go into a couch, and this we thought the 
last day of our lives. We went out of the house, 
but where, we did not know, and were put into 
another house, which was worse than the first where 
we Avere confined several months, without seeing 
any of the Inquisitors, or Mary, or any of our com- 
panions: And in the same manner we were removed 
^X)m. that house to another, where we continued till 
we were miraculously delived by the French officers. 
Mr. Faulcaut, happily for me, did open the door of 
my room, and as soon as he saw me, he began to 
show me much civility, and took me and Leonora 
along with him to his lodgings, and after he heard 
my whole story, and fearing that things wo\tld t\ir3a 



POPISH CHURCH. 309 

lo our disadvantage J he ordered the next day to send 
listo his father. We weredrest in men's clothes, to go 
the more safely, and so we came to this house, where 
I was kept for two years as the daughter of the old 
man, till Mr. Faulcaut's regiment being broke, he 
came home, and two months after, married me. Le- 
onora was married to another officer, and they live 
in Orleans, which being in your way to Paris, I do 
not question but you will pay her a visit. Now my 
husband is at court, soliciting a new commission, and 
he will be very glad of your acquaintance, if he has 
not left Paris before you go to it. Thus ended our 
first entertainment the first night. 

I stayed there afterwards twelve days, in which 
she told me the staries of all the young ladies, which 
Lsenora did repeat to me without any alteration, as 
to the substantial points of them. But these divert- 
ing accounts, containing more paticular circumstan- 
ces touching the horrible procedure of the tribunal, 
but more especially, being full of amorous intrigues, 
I think fit not to insert them here, but to give them 
in a separate book, to the public if desired; for as I 
have many other things to say touching the corrup- 
tions of the Romish priest, these acconts may be 
inserted there, to show the ill practices and corrup- 
tions of the inquisitors. So I proceed to speak of 
the new quarters of the French troops in the inquisi- 
tion, and of the restoration of the holy fathers into it, 
and afterwards I will go on with the instances of the 
public trials. 

When the Marquis de Taurcey was chosen Gov- 

36* 



310 HISTORY OF THE 

ernor of the fort of Aljaferia, where formerly the holy 
office was kept, he put a strong garrison into it ; the 
holy fathers were obhged to remove, and take away 
their prisoners ; but they did wall all the doors of 
their secret prisons, where they used to keep the 
hellish engines, so we could not then know any 
thing of their barbarity in the punishment of inno- 
cents, and I think, that as they did consider them- 
selves as unsettled, and being in hopes to recover 
again the former place, they did not remove their 
inhuman instruments of torment, so there were none 
found in the last house when they were turned out : 
nay, among so great a number of prisoners delivered 
out of it, we could converse with none of them, for 
as soon as they got out, for fear of a new order from 
the king or pope, they made their escape out of the 
country, and they were much in the right of it, for 
the inquisition is a place to be very much feared, and 
not to be tried a second time, if one can help it. 

At last, after eight months reprieve, the same 
inquisitors came again with more power than before, 
for Don Pedro Guerrero, first Inquisitor, was chosen 
by the Pope, at King Philip's request, ecclesiastical 
judge, for priests, friars, and nuns, to examine and 
punish crimes of disaffection to his majesty : So, for 
a while, he was Pope, King, and Tyrant. The first 
thing he did was to give the public an account of 
the crimes for which all the prisoners that had been 
delivered, were confined in the inquisition, to vindi- 
cate this way the honor of the three Inquisitors, 
commanding at the same time, all sorts of persons to 



POPISH CHURCH. 311 

discover and secure any of the said prisoners, under 
pain of death. This proclamation was a thing never 
before heard of, and we may say, that satisf actio non 
petita, generat suspicionem: for really, by this, 
they did declare themselves guilty of what was 
charged on them, in relation to the Seraglio, in tlte 
opinion of serious, sensible people. But every body 
was terrified bv the said proclamation, and none 
dared to say any thing about it. 

The unmerciful Guerrero, like a roaring lion, 
began to devour all sorts of people, showing, by this, 
his great affection to the king, and fervent zeal for 
the pope ; for, under pretence of their being dis- 
affected to his majesty, he confined, and that publicly, 
near three hundred friars, and one hundred and fifty 
priests, and a great number of the laity. Next to 
this, he made himself master of their estates, which 
were sold publicly, being bought by the good loyal 
subjects. He did suspend, ab officio et benejicio, 
many secular priests, and banished them out of the 
dominions of Spain ; whipt others publicly, banished 
and whipt friars, and took the liberty insolently to go 
into the monastery of the nuns of St. Lucia, and 
whipt six of them for being affected to Charles the 
Hid, and he imprisoned Donna Catharina Cavero, 
only for being the head of the imperial faction. But 
observe, that this whipping of the nuns is only 
giving them a discipline, i. e. so many strokes with 
a rod on the shoulders ; but Guerrero was so impu- 
dent and barefaced a Nero, that commanding the 
poor nuns to turn their habits backwards, and dis- 



31^ HISTORYOFTHE 

cover their shoulders, he himself was the executioner 
of this unparalleled punishment. 

As to the laity that were put into the inquisition, 
and whose estates were seized, we did not hear any 
thing of them, but I am sure they did end their 
miserable lives in that horrid place. Many of them 
left a great family behind them, who all were 
reduced to beggary ; for when the heads of them 
were confined, all the families must suffer with 
them: And this is the reason, why more than two 
thousand families left the city, and every thing 
they had, rather than undergo the miseries of that 
time, and the cruel persecution of Guerrero, So we 
may believe, that having so great authority as he 
had, he soon could recruit his Seraglio. 

Though Guerrero was so busy in the affairs of the 
king, he did not forget the other business concerning 
the Catholic faith; so, to make the people sensible of 
his indefatigable zeal, he began again to summons 
priests and friars to new trials, of which I am going 
to speak. 

The trial of a Friar of St. Jerome^ organist of 
the convent in Saragossa. 

All the summoned persons being together in the 
hall, the prisoner and a young boy were brought 
out; and after the first inquisitor had finished his 
bitter correction, the secretary read the exaimnations 
and sentence, as follows: 

Whereas, informations were made, and by evi- 
dences proved, that Fr. Joseph Peralta has commit- 



P0?1S H C HUR C H. SI 3 

ted the crime of Sodomy, Avith the present John 
Romeo, his disciple, which the said Romeo himself, 
owned upon interrogatories of the holy inquisitors: 
they having an unfeigned regard for the order of St. 
Jerome, do declare and condemn the said Fr. Joseph 
Peralta, to a year's confinement in his own convent, 
but that he may assist at the divine service, and 
celebrate mass. Itevi, for an example to other like 
sinners, the holy fathers declare that the said John is 
to be whipped through the public streets of tlie 
town, and receive at every corner, as it is a custom, 
five lashes; and that he shall Avear a coroza, i. e. 
a sort of a mitre on his head, feathered all over, as a 
mark of his crime. Which sentence is to be executed 
an Friday next, without any appeal. 

After the secretary had done, Don Pedro Guerrero 
did ask Fr. Joseph, whether he had any thing to say 
against the sentence or not ? And he answering, no, 
the prisoners were carried back to their prisons, and 
the company were dismissed. Observe the equity 
of the inquisitors in this case : the boy was but four- 
teen 3^ears of age, under the power of Fr. Joseph, 
and he was charged with the penalty and punish- 
ment Fr. Joseph did deserve. The poor boy was 
whipped according to the sentence, and died th^ 
next day. 

The Trial of Father Pueyo, Confessor of the 
Nims at St. Miniica. 

This criminal had been but six days in the inqui- 
sition, before he was brought to hear his sentence, 



314 HISTORY OF THE 

and every thing being performed as before, the 
secretary read: 

Whereas father Pueyo has committed fornication 
with five spiritual daughters, (so the nuns which 
confess to the same confessor continually, are called) 
which is, besides fornication, sacrilege and trans- 
gression of our commands, and he himself having 
owned the fact, we therefore declare that he shall 
keep his cell for three weeks, and loose his employ- 
ment, &c. 

The inquisitor asked him whether he had any 
thing to say against it: and father Pueyo said, holy 
father, I remember that v/hen I was choosen father 
confessor of the nuns of our mother St. Monica, you 
had a great value for five young ladies of the mon- 
astery, and you sent for me, and begged of me to 
take care of ihem: so I have done, as a faithful ser- 
vant, and may say unto you, Domine qidnqiie ta- 
lent a tradldisti me, ecce alia quinque super lucra- 
tiis sun. The inquisitors could not forbear laughing 
at this application of the Scripture; and Don Pedro 
Guerrero was so well pleased with this answer, that 
he told him, you said loell: Therefore, Peccata tua 
remitiuntur tibi, nunc vade in pace, et noli am- 
p)lius jieccare. This was a pleasant trial, and Pueyo 
was excused from the performance of his penance 
by this impious jest. 

The trial and sentence of the Licentiate Lizondo, 

The secretary read the examinations, evidence 
and convictions; and the said Lizondo (who was a 



POPISH CHURCH. 315 

licentiate, or Master of Arts) himself did own the 
fact, which was as follows: 

The said Lizondo, though an ingenious man, and 
fit for the sacredotal function, would not be ordained, 
giving out that he thought himself unworthy of so 
high dignity, as to have every day the Saviour of 
the world in his hands, after the consecration. 
And by this feigned humility he began to insinuate 
himself into the people's opinion, and pass for a reli- 
gious godly man, among them. He studied physic, 
and practised it only with the poor, in the beginning; 
but being called afterwards by the rich and espe- 
cially by the nuns, at last he was found out in his 
wickedness; for he used to give something to make 
the young ladies sleep, and in this way he obtained 
his lascivious desires. But one of the evidences 
swore that he had done these things by the help of 
magic, and that he had used only a.n incantation, 
with which he made every body fall asleep: — But 
this he absolutely denied, as an imposition and 
falsity. — We did expect a severe sentence, but it 
was only that the licentiate was to discover to the 
iiiquisitors, on a day appointed by them, the receipt 
for making the people sleep ; and that the punish- 
ment to be inflicted on him, was to be -refered to the 
discretion of the holy fathers. We saw him after- 
wards every day walking in the streets; and this 
was all his punishment. We must surely believe 
that such crimes are reckoned but a trifle among 
them, for very seldom they show any great displea- 
sure or severity to those that are found guilty of 
them. 



S16 HISTORY OP THE 

Of the Order of the Inquisitors to arrest a Horse, 
and to bring him to the Holy Office, 

The case well deserves my trouble in giving a fnll 
account of it ; so I will explain it from the begin- 
ning to the end. The rector of the university of 
Saragossa has his own officers to arrest the scholars, 
and punish them if they commit any crime, Among 
their officers there was one called Guadalaxara, who 
was mighty officious and troublesome to the colle- 
gians or students; for upon the least thing in the 
world he arrested them. The scholars did not love 
him at all, and contrived how they should punif^h him, 
or to play some comical tricks upon him. At last, some 
of the strongest agreed to be at the bottom of the 
steeple of the university in the evening, and six of 
them in the belfry, Avho were to let down a lusty 
young scholar, tied with a strong rope, at the hear- 
ing of the word ivar. So the scholars that were in 
the yard, and at the bottom of the steple, picked a 
quarrel purposely to bring Guadalaxara there, and 
when he was already among them, arresting on^, 
they cried out ivar. At which sign the six in the 
steeple let down the tied scholar, who taking in his 
arms Guadalaxara, and being pulled up by the six, 
he carried him almost twenty feet high, and let him 
fall down. The poor man was crying out, Jesus ! 
the Devil has taken me up. The students that were 
at the bottom had instruments of music, and put off 
their cloaks to receive him in, and as he cried out^ 
the Devil, the Devil, the musicians answered him 



POPISH CHURCH. 317 

with the instruments, repeatmg the same words he 
pronounced hmiself, and with this, gathering together 
great numbers of scholars, they took him in the 
middle, continuing always the music and songs, to 
prevent, by this, the people^s taking notice of it, and 
every body believed that it was only a mere scho- 
lastic diversion: So, with this melody and rejoicings, 
they carried the troublesome Guadalaxara out of the 
gates of the city into the field, called the Burnt 
Place, because formerly the heretics were burnt in 
that field. There was a dead horse, and opening his 
belly; they tied the poor officer by the hands and 
legs, and placed him within the horse's belly, which 
they sewed, leaving the head of Guadalaxara out, 
under the tail of the horse, and so they went back 
mto the city. How dismal that night was to the poor 
man, any body may imagine; but yet it was very sweet 
to him, in comparison to what he suffered in the morn- 
ing; for the dogs going to eat of the dead horse's 
flesh, he, for fear they should eat off his head, con- 
tinually cried out, ho ! ho ! perron, i. e. dogs, and that 
day he found that not only the scholars, but even 
the very dogs were afraid of him, for dogs did not 
dare approach the dead horse. The laborers of the 
city, who were a most ignorant sort of people, but 
very pleasant in their rustic expressions, going out 
to the field, by break of the day, saw the dogs near 
the horse, and heard the voice, ho! ho! perros. 
They looked up and down, and seeing nobody, drew 
near the horse, and hearing the same voice, fright- 
ened out of their senses, went into the city again 

37 



318 HISTORY OF THE 

and gave out that a dead horse was speaking in the 
burnt field; and as they affirmed and swore the 
thing to be true, crowds of people went to see and 
hear the wonder, or, as many others said, the mira- 
cle of a dead horse speaking. A public notary was 
among the mob, but no one dared to go near the 
horse. The notary went to the inquisitors to make 
affidavit of this case, and added that no one having 
courage enough to approach the horse, it was proper 
to send some of the friars, with holy water and stola^ 
to exorcise the horse, and -find out the cause of his 
speaking. But the inquisitors who think to com- 
mand beast, as well as reasonable creatures, sent six 
of their officers, with strict orders, to carry the horse 
to the holy office. The officers having an opinion that 
the devil must submit to them, went, and approaching 
the horse, they saw the head under the tail, and the 
poor man crying out, help, take me out of this putri- 
fied grave; for God^s sake, good people, make haste^ 
for I am not the devil, nor ghost, nor apparition, but 
the real body and soul of Guadalaxara, the constable 
of the university; and I do renounce, in this place, 
the office of arresting scholars forever; and I do 
forgive them this wrong done to me, and thanks be 
to God, and to the Virgin of Pilar, who has preserved 
my body from being converted into a dead horse, 
that I am alive still. 

These plain demonstrations of the nature of the 
thing did not convince, in the least, the officers of the 
inquisition, who are always very strict in the perfor- 
mance of the orders given them; so they took the 



POPISH CHURCH. 319 

dead horse and carried it to the inquisition. Never 
were more people seen in the streets and windows 
than on that day, besides the great crowd that 
followed the corps, which I saw myself; the inquisitors 
having notice beforehand, went to the hall to receive 
the inforaiations from the horse ; and after they had 
asked him many questions, the poor man pushed up 
the tail with his nose to speak, to see, and to be seen 
still answering them; the wise holy fathers trusting 
not to his information, gave orders to the officers to 
carry the speaking horse to the torture, which being 
done accordingly, as they began to turn the ropes 
through the horse's belly, at the third turning of them 
the skin of the belly broke, and the real body of 
Guadalaxara appeared in all his dimensions, and by 
the horse's torture, he saved his life. The poor man 
died three weeks after, and he forgave the scholars 
ivho contrived this mischief, and an elegy was made 
on his death. 

Thesis defended hy F. James Garcia, in the hall 
of the Inquisition. 

The case of the Rev. father F. James Garcia, 
made a great noise in Spain, which was thus : 

This same James Garcia is the learned man of 
whom I have spoken several times in my book. His 
father, though a shoe-maker by trade, was very 
honest and well beloved, and as God had bestowed 
on him riches enough, and having but one child, he 
gave him the best education he could, in the college 
of Jesuits, where, in the study of grammar, he signa- 



\ 



320 HISTORY OF THE 

lized himself for his vivacity and uncommon wit. 
After going to the miiversity, he went through 
philosophy and divinity, to the admiration of his 
masters; he entered St. Angiistin's order, and after 
his novicate was ended, desired to obtain the degree 
of master of arts; he defended public thesis of philos- 
ophy, and after, other thesis of divinity, without any 
moderator to answer for him in case of necessity. 
The thesis and some propositions were quite new to 
the learned people; for among other propositions, 
one was Innocent ium esse verum pontijicem, non 
est de fide, i. e. it is not an article of faith that 
Innocent is the true pope. And next to this propo- 
sition, this other: No2i credere quod non video y 
non est contra fidem. It is not against the Catholic 
faith not to believe what I do not see. 

Upon account of these two propositions, he was 
summoned by the inquisitors, and ordered to defend 
the said propositions separately, in the hall of the 
inquisition, and answer for six days together, to aU 
the arguments of the learned Qualificators, which he 
did, and kept his ground, that instead of being pun- 
ished for it, he was honored with the cross of the 
Qualificator, after the examinations were made of 
the purity of his blood. 

Sentence given against Lawrence Castro, gold-- 
s^nith of Saragossa. 

Lawrence Castro was the most famous and 
wealthy goldsmith in the city, and as he went one 
day to carry a piece of plate to Don Pedro Guerrero, 



POPISH CHURCH. 321 

before he paid him, he bade him go and see the 
house along with one of his domestic servants, 
which he did, and seeing nothing but doors of iron, 
and hearing nothing but lamentations of the people 
within; having returned to the inquisitor's apart- 
ment, Don Pedro asked him, Lawrence, how do you 
like this place ? To which Lawrence said, I do not 
like it at all, for it seems to me the very hell upon 
earth. This innocent, but true answer, was the 
only occasion of his misfortune ; for he was immedi- 
ately sent into one of the hellish prisons, and at the 
same time many officers went to his house to seize 
upon every thing, and that day he appeared at the 
bar, and his sentence was read: he was condemned 
to be wipped through the public streets, to be marked 
on his shoulders with a burning iron, and to be sent 
forever to the gallies-, but the good, honest, unfortu- 
nate man died that very day; all his crime being 
only to say, that the holy office did seem to him hell 
on earth. 

At the same time, a lady of good fortune was 
whipped, because she said in company, I do not 
know whether the pope is a man or a woman, and 
I hear wonderful things of him every day, and I 
imagine he must be an animal very rare. For these 
words she lost honor, fortune and life, for she died 
six days after the execution of her sentence : and 
thus the holy fathers punish trifling things, and leave 
unpunished horrible crimes. 

The following instance will be a demonstration of 
this truth, and show how the inquisitors favor the 

37* 



322 HISTORY OF THE 

ecclesiastics more than the laity, and the reason why 
they are more severe upon one than the other. 

In the diocess of Mnrcia was a parish priest in a 
village in the mountains. The people of it were 
almost all of them shepherds, and were obliged to be 
always abroad with their flocks: so the priest being 
the commander of the shepherdesses, began to preach 
every Friday in the afternoon, all the congregation 
being composed of the women of the town. His 
constant subject was, the indispensable duty of 
paying the tithes to him, and this not only of the 
fruits of the earth, but of the seventh of their sacra- 
ments too, which is matrimony, and he had such 
great eloquence to persuade them to secrecy, as to 
their husbands, and a ready submission to him, that 
he began to reap the fruit of his doctrine in a few 
days, and by this wicked example, he brought into 
tTie list of the tithes all the married women of the 
town, and he received from them the tenth for six 
years together; but his infernal doctrine and practice 
was discovered by a young woman who was to be 
married, of whom the priest asked the tithe before 
hand; but she telling it to her sweet-heart, he went 
to discover the case to the next commissary of the 
inquisition, who having examined the matter, and 
found it true, he took the priest and sent him to the 
inquisition; he was found guilty of so abominable a 
sin, and he himself confessed it ; and what was the 
punishment inflicted on him? Only to confine him 
in a friar*s cell for six months. The priest being 
confined, made a virtue of necessity, and so com- 



POPISH CHURCH. 323 

posed a small book, entitled, The True Penitent, 
which was universally approved by all sorts of 
people, for solid doctrine and morality. He dedi- 
cated the work to the holy inquisitors, who, for a 
reward of his pains, gave him another parish a great 
deal better than the first. But hardened wretch ! 
There he fell again to the same trade of receiving 
the tithes; upon which the people of the parish com- 
plained to the governor, who acquainted the king 
with the case, and his majesty ordered the inquisitors 
to apply a speedy remedy to it; so the holy fathers 
sent him to the pope's gallies for five years time. 

I must own, it is quite against my inclination to 
give this and the like accounts, for it will seem very 
much out of the way of a clergyman; but if the 
reader will make reflections on them, and consider 
that my design is only to show how unjustly the 
inquisitors act in this and other cases, he will cer- 
tainly excuse me; for they really deserve to be 
ridiculed more than argued against, reasoning being 
of no force with them, but a discovery of their 
infamous actions and laws, may-be will produce, if 
not in them, in some people at least, a good effect. 

The Roman Catholics believe there is a purgatory, 
and that the souls suffer more pains in it than in hell. 
But I think the inquisition is the only purgatory on 
earth, and the holy fathers are the judges and 
executioners in it. The reader may form a dreadful 
idea of the barbarity of that tribunal, by what I have 
already said, but I am sure it will never come up to 
what it is in reality, for it passeth all understanding, 



324 HISTORY OF THE 

not as the peace of God, but as the war of the devil. 

So that we may easily know by this, that the 
aforesaid account, that they leave off all observance 
of the first precepts of the holy office, and chastise 
only those that speak either against the pope, clergy, 
or the holy inquisition. 

The only reason of settling that tribunal in Spain, 
was to examine and chastise sinners, or those that 
publicly contemned the faith. But now a man may 
blaspheme and commit the most heinous crimes, if 
he says nothing against the three mentioned articles, 
is free from the hellish tribunal. 

Let us except from this rule the rich Jews, for the 
poor are in no fear of being confined there; they are 
the rich alone that suffer in that place, not for the 
crime of Jewdaism, (though this is the color and 
pretence,) but the crime of having riches. Francisco 
Alfaro, a Jew, and a very rich one, was kept in the 
inquisition of Seville four years, and after he had 
lost all he had in the world was discharged out of it 
with a small correction : this was to encourage him 
to trade again and get more riches, which he did in 
four years time. Then he was put again in the 
holy office, with the loss of his goods and money. 
And after three years of imprisonment he was dis- 
charged, and ordered to wear for six months, the 
mark of San Benito, i. e. a picture of a man in the 
middle of the fire of hell, which he was to wear 
before his breast publicly. — But Alfaro a few days 
after, left the city of Seville, and seeing a pig with- 
out the gate, he hung the San Benito on the pig's 



POPISH CHURCH. 325 

neck, and made his escape. I saw this Jew in Lis- 
bon, he told me the story himself, adding, Now I 
a-m a poor Jew, I tell every body so, and though the 
inquisition is more severe here than in Spain, no 
body takes notice of me. I am sure they would 
confine me forever, if I had as much riches as I had 
in Seville. Really, the holy office is more cruel and 
inhuman in Portugal than in Spain, for I never saw 
any publicly burnt in my OAvn country, and I saw in 
Lisbon seven at once, four young women and three 
men; two 3^oung women were biuiit alive and an 
old man, and the others were strangled first. 

But being obliged to dismiss this chapter, and 
leave out many curious histories, I promise to relate 
them in the second part of this work. Now let me 
entreat all true Protestants to join with me in hearty 
prayer to God Almighty. 

eternal God, who dost rule the hearts of kings, 
and orderest every thing to the glory of the true re- 
ligion, pour thy holy spirit upon the heart of Louis 
the first, that he may see the barbarous, unchristian 
practices of the inquisitors, and with a firm resolu- 
tion abolish all la\vs contrary to those given us by 
thy only son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord. 



PART V. 

0/ their Prayers, Adoration of Images, aiid Relics. 
ARTICLE I. 

Of their Prayers. 

The prayers sung or said, in the church, are seven 
canonical hours, or the seven services, viz: Tertia, 
Sexta, Nona, Vesperoe, Matutina, and Completoe. 
Prima is composed of the general confession, three 
psalms, and many other prayers, with the Marty- 
fologio Sanctorum, i. e. with a commemoration of 
all the saints of that day. Tertia is a prayer or 
service of three psalms, anthem, and the collect of 
tlie day, &c. Sexta and Nona are the same. Ves- 
peroe, evening songs, contain five anthems, five 
psalms, an hymn. Magnificat, or my soul doth 
magnify, Stc, with an anthem, collect of the day, and 
commemorations of some saints. Matutina, or 
matins, is the longest service of the seven, for it con^ 
tains, 1st. The psalm. O come let us sing: 2d. 
An hymn: 3d. Three anthems, three psalms, and 
three lessons of the Old Testament: 4th. Three 
anthems, three psalms, and three lessons of the day, 
i. e. of the life of the saint of that day, or the mys- 
tery of it: 5th. Three psalms, three lessons, of which 
the first beginneth with the gospel of the day, and 



POPISH CHURCH. 327 

two or three lines of it, and the rest is an homily, or 
exposition of tho gospel: 6th. Te Beum: 7th. Five 
anthems, five psalms, an hymn, anthem of the day, 
the psalm, Blessed be the Lords of Israel, &c., the 
collect of the day, and some commemorations. — 
Complete, or complices, is the last service, which 
contains the general confession, an anthem, three or 
four psalms, and Lordnowl ettest thou, &c.,and some 
other adherent prayers for the Virgin, the holy cross, 
saints, &c. All these seven services are said, or 
sung, in Latin, every day in the cathedral churches, 
but not in all the parish churches. 

In the cathedral churches on the festivals of the 
first class, or the greatest festivals, as those of Christ 
and the Virgin Mary, all the seven canonical hours 
are sung. Prima at six in the morning, and a mass 
after it. Tertia at ten, the great mass after, and 
after the mass, Sexta and Nona. At two, or three in 
the afternoon, the evening song; at seven, complices; 
and half an hour after midnight, the matins. In the 
festivals of the second class, as those of the apostles, 
and some saints placed in that class by the popes, 
Tertia, evening songs and matins are all that are 
sung, and likewise every day, though not with 
organ, nor music. 

In the parish churches the priests sing only Tertia, 
and evening songs on Sundays and festivals of the 
first class; except where there are some foundations, 
or settlements for singing evening songs on other 
private days. But the great mass is always sung 
in every parish church, besides the masses for tb« 
dead, which are settled to be sung. 



328 HISTORY OP THE 

In the convents of the friars, they observe the 
method of the cathedral, except some days of the 
week granted to them by the prior, as recreation 
days, and then they say the service, and go to divert 
themselves all the day after. As to the nuns, I have 
given an account in the first chapter of their lives 
and conversations. 

The priests and friars that do not say, or sing the 
service Avith the community, are obliged in conscience 
to say those seven canonical hours every day, and 
if they do not, they commit a mortal sin, and ought 
to confess it among the sins of omission. Besides 
these seven services, they have, not by precept, but 
by devotion, the service or small office of the Virgin 
Mary, the seven penitential psalms, and other prayers 
af saints, which are by long custom become services 
of precept for they never will dare to omit them, 
either for devotion's sake, or for fear that the laity 
would tax them with coldness and negligence in 
matters of exemplary devotion. 

As to the public prayers of the laity, they all are 
contained in the beads or rosary of the Virgin Mary 
and to give them some small comfort, there is a fixed 
time in the evening in every church for the rosary. 
The sexton rings the bell, and when the parishoners, 
both men and women, are gathered together, the 
minister of the parish, or any other priest, comes out 
of the vestry, in his surplice, and goes to the altar of 
the Virgin Mary, and lighting two or more candles 
on the altar's table, he kneels down before the altar, 
makes the sign of the cross, and begins the rosary 



POPISH CHURCH. 32^ 

with a prayer to the Vhgin: and after he has said 
half of the Ave Maria, &c., the people say the other 
half, which he repeats ten times, the people doing 
the same. Then he says Gloria Patri, &c.; and 
the people answer, As it was in the beginning, &c. 
Then, in the same manner, the priest says half of 
Our Father J and ten times half Jive Maria, and so 
he and the people do, till they have said them fifty 
times. This done, the priest says another prayer to 
the Virgin, and begins her litany, and after every 
one of her titles, or encomiums, the people answer 
Ora pro nobis, pray for us. The litany ended, the 
priest and people visit five altars, saying before each 
of them one Pater Noster, and one Jive Maria, 
with Gloria Patri-, and lastly, the priest, kneeling 
down before the great altar, says an act of contrition 
and endeth with Lighten our dai^kness, we beseach 
thee, &c. All the prayers of the rosary are in the 
vulgar tongue, except, Gloria Patri and O^^a pro 
nobis, i. e. Glory be to thee, &c., and Pray for us. 

After the rosary; in some churches, there is 
Oratio Mentalis, i. e. a pmyer of meditation, and 
for this purpose the priest of the rosary, or sonie 
other of devout life and conversation, readeth a 
chapter in some devout book, as Thomas a Kempis, 
or Francis be Sales, or Father Eusebio, of the 
difi'erence between temporal and eternal things; and 
when he has ended the chapter, every one on their 
knees, begin to meditate on the contents of the chap- 
ter, with great devotion and silence. They continue 
in that prayer half an hour or more, and after it, the 

38 



330 HISTORY OF THE 

priests say a prayer of thanksgiving to God Almighty 
for the benefits received from him by all there 
present, &c. 

I Sdiidi public prayers of the laity; for when they 
assist at the divine service, or hear mass, they only 
hear what the priest says in Latiuy and answer 
Amen. Generally speaking, tbey do not. understand 
Latin, especially in towns of 300 houses, and villages^ 
there can scarcely be found, one Latinist, except 
the curate, and even he very often doth not under- 
stand, perfectly well what he reads in Latin. By 
this universal ignorance we may say, that iliej dcf 
not know what they pray for; nay, if a priest was 
so wicked in heart, as to curse the people in churchy 
and damn them all in Latin, the poor idiots must 
answer Amen, knowing not what the priest says, 
I do not blame the common people in this point, but 
1 blame the pope and priests that fordid them to* 
read the Scripture, and by this prohibition they 
cannot know what St. Paul says about praying in 
the vulgar tongue: So the pope and priest, and those 
that plead ignorance, must answer for the people 
before the dreadful tribunal of God. 

Besides this public prayer of the rosary, they have 
private prayers at home, as the crea, the Lord^s 
prayer, a prayer to the Virgin, the act of con- 
trition, and other prayers to saints, angels, and for 
souls in purgatory. But this prayer of the rosary is 
not only said in church, but is sung in streets; and 
the custom was introduced by the Dominican friars, 
who, in some parts of Spain, are called The Fathers 



POPISH CHURCH. 331 

of the holy rosary, Sundays and holy days, after 
evemiig songs, the prior of the Dominicans, with all 
liis friars and corporation, or fraternity of the holy 
rosary, begins the Virgin's evening songs, all the 
while ringing the bells, which is to call for the pro- 
cession, and when the evening songs are over, the 
clerk of the convent, drest in his Jllva or surplice, 
taking the standard where the picture of the Virgin 
Mary is drawn with a frame of roses, and two 
novices in «urpKces, with candlesticks, walking on 
each side of the standard, the procession beginneth. 
First, all the brethren of the corporation go cut of 
ihe church, each with a wax candle in his hand; the 
standard folio weth after, and all the friars, in two 
lines, follow the standard. In this order the proces- 
sion goes through the streets, all singing jive Maria, 
and the laity answering as before. They stop in 
some public street, where a friar, upon a table, 
preacheth a sermon of the excellency and power of 
the rosary, and gathering the people, they go back 
again into the church, where the rosary being over, 
another friai* preachetli upon the same subject 
another sermon, exhorting the people to practise 
ihis devotion of the rosary; and the}?" have carried so 
tar this extravagant folly, that if a man is found dead 
and has not the beads or rosary of the Virgin in his 
pocket, that man is not reckoned a christian, and he 
is not to be buried in consecrated ground till some- 
body knoweth him, and certifieth that such a man 
was a christian, and passeth his word for him. So 
evexj body takes care to liave always the beads or 



332 HISTORTOFTHE 

rosary in his pocket, as the characteristic of a chris^ 
tian. But this devotion of the rosary is made so 
common among bigots, that they are always wi th 
the beads in their hands, and at night round about 
their necks. There is nothing more usual in Spain 
and Portugal, than to see people in the markets and 
in the shops, praying with their beads, and selling 
and buying at the same time; nay, the procurers in 
the great Piazza are praying with their beads, and 
at the same time contriYing and agreeing with a 
man for wicked intrigues. So all sorts of persons 
having it as a law to say the rosary every day: some 
say it walking, others in company, (keeping silent 
for a while) but the rest talking or laughing: so great 
is their attention and devotion in this indispensable 
prayer of the holy rosary. 

But this is not the worst of their practices; for if a 
man or priest neglects, one day to say the rosary, he 
doth not commit a mortal sin:, though this is a great 
fault among them; but the divine service, or seven 
canonical hours, every priest, friar, and nun, is 
obliged to say every day, or else they commit a 
mortal sin, by the statutes o-f the church and popes. 
This service, which is to be said in private, and with 
christian devotion, is as much profaned among eccle- 
siastics and nuns, as the rosary among the laity; for 
I have seen mary ecclesiastics (and I have done it 
myself several times) play at cards, and have the 
breviary on the table, to say the divine service at 
the same time. Others walking in company, and 
others doing still worse things than these, have tbe 



POPISH CHURCH. 333 

breviary in their hands, and reading the service, 
when they at the same time are in occasione prox- 
ima peccati ; and, notwithstanding they beUeve they 
have performed exactly that part of the ecclesiastical 
duty. 

I know that modesty obligeth me to be more 
cautious in this account, and if it was not for this 
reason, I could detect the most horrible things of 
friars and nuns that ever were seen or heard in the 
world; but leaving this unpleasant subject, I come 
to say something of the profit the priests and friars 
get by their irreligious prayers, and by what means 
they recommend them to the laity. 

The profits, priest and friars get by their prayers, 
are not so great as that they get by absolution and 
masses ; for it is by an accident, if sometimes they 
are desired to pray for money. — There is a custom, 
that if one in a family is sick, the head of the family 
sends immediately to some devout, religious friar or 
nun, to pray for the sick, so by this custom, not all 
priests and friars are employed, but only those that 
are known to live a regular life. But because the 
people are very much mistaken in this, I crave leave 
to explain the nature of those whom the people 
believe religious friars, or in Spanish, Gazmonnos. 
In every convent there are eight or ten of those 
Gazmonnos yOY devout men, who, at the examination 
for confessors and preachers, were found quite inca- 
pable of the performance of the great duties, and so 
were not approved hy the examiners of the convent. 
And though they scarcely understand Latin, they are 

38* 



334 HISTORY OF THE 

permitted to say mass, that by that means the e&B- 
vent might not be at any expense with them. 1'hese 
poor idiots, being not able to get any thing by seUing 
absolutions nor by preaching, undertake the life of a 
Gazmonnos, and live a mighty retired life, keeping- 
themselves in their cells^ or chambers, and not con- 
versing with the rest of the community: so thedr 
brethem Gazmonnos, visit them, and among them- 
selves, there is nothing spared for their diversion, and 
the carrying on their private designs. 

When they go out of the convent it must be with 
one of the same farandula, or trade. Their faces 
look pale; their eyes are fixed on the ground, their 
discourse all of heavenly things, their visits in public 
and their meat and drink but very little before the 
world, though in great abundance between them- 
selves, or, as they say. Inter priv at os parietes. By 
this mortifying appearance, the people believe them 
to be godly men, and in such a case as sickness, they 
rather send to one of these to pray for the sick, than 
to other friars of less public fame. — But those hypo- 
crites, after the apprenticeship of this trade is over, 
are very expert in it, for if any body sends for one 
of them, either without money, or some substantial 
present, they say they cannot go, for they have so 
many sick persons to visit and pray for, that it is 
impossible for them to spare any time. But if money 
or a present is sent to him, he is ready to go and 
pray every where. 

So these ignorent, hypocritical friars, are alv/ays 
followed by the ignorant people, who furnish them 



POPISH CHURCH. 335 

with money and presents, for the sake of their 
prayers, and they Uve more comfortable than many 
rich people, and have one hmidred pistoles in their 
pockets oftener than many of the laity who have 
good estates. 

Some people will be apt to blame me for giving 
so bad a character of those devout men in appear- 
ance, when I cannot be a judge of their hearts. But 
I answer, that I do not judge thus of all of them, 
but only of those that I knew to be great hypocrites 
and sinners; for I saw seven of them taken up by 
the inquisitors, and I was at their public trial, as I 
have given an account in the former chapter. So 
by these seven we may give a near guess of th« 
others, and say, thett their outward mortifying ap- 
pearance is only a cloak of their private designs. 

There are some nuns likewise, who follow the 
same trade as I have given one instance in the 
chapter of the inquisition, and though the ignorant 
people see every day some of these Gazmonnos 
taken up by the inquisitors, they are so blinded, that 
they always look for one of them to pray. These 
hypocrites do persuade the heads of families, that 
they are obliged in conscience to mind their own 
business, rather than to pray, and that the providence 
of God has ordered every thing for the best for his 
creatures, and that he, (foreseeing that the heads of 
families would have no time to spare for prayers) 
has chosen such religious men to pray for them, so 
they are well recompensed for their prayers, and 
God only knoweth whether they pray or not. Most 



S36 HISTORY OF THE 

commonly, when they are wanted, they are at the 
club, with then* brethren Gazmonnos, eating and 
drinking, afterwards painting their faces with some 
yellow drug, to make themselves look pale and 
mortified. good God ! how great is thy patience 
in tolerating such wicked men. 

As to the means the priests and friars make use of, 
and the doctrine they preach to recommend this 
exercise of praying to the people, I can give one 
instance of them as matter of fact. Being desired to 
preach upon the subject of prayer, by the mother 
abbess of the nuns of St. Clara, who told me in 
private, that many of her nuns did neglect their 
prayers, and were most commonly at the grate with 
their devotees, and the good mother, out of pure zeal, 
told me that such nuns were the devils of the monas- 
tery ; so to oblige her, I went to preach, and took 
my text out of the gospel of St. Matthew, chap. xvii. 
5.21. Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by 
prayer and fasting, but in our vulgar, the text is 
thus, Howbeit this kind of devils, fyc. And after I 
had explained the text, confining myself wholly to 
the learned Silveria's commentaries, I did endeavor 
to prove, that the persons devoted to God by a public 
profession of monastical life, were bound in con- 
science to pray without ceasing, as St. Paul tells us, 
and that if they neglected this indispensable duty, 
they were worse than devils : and after this proposi- 
tion, I did point out the way and method to tame 
such devils, which was by prayer and fasting. And 
lastly, the great obhgation laid upon us by Jesus 



POPISH CHURCH. 337 

Christ and his apostles, to make use of this exercise 
of prayer, which I did recommend as a medium to 
attain the highest degree of glory in heaven, and to 
exceed even angels, prophets, patriarchs, apostles, 
and all the saints of the heavenly court. 

I do not intend to give a copy of the sermon, but I 
cannot pass by the proof I gave to confirm my 
proposition, to show by it, the trifling method of 
preaching most generally used among the Roman 
Catholic preachers. 

The historiographers and chronologers of St. Au- 
gustine's order, say, (said I) that the great father 
Augustine is actually in heaven, before the throne of 
the holy Trinity, as a reward for the unparalleled 
zeal and devotion he had upon earth, for that holy 
mystery, and because he spent all his free time on 
earth in praying, which makes him now in heaven 
greater than all sorts of saints. They say more, viz. 
that in the heaven of the holy trinity, there are only 
the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, the Virgin 
Mary, St. Joseph, and, the last of all, St. Augustine. 
Thus father Garcia, in his Santoral, printed in Sara- 
gossa, in 1707, vide sermon on St. Augustine. 

To this, I knew would be objected the 11th verse 
of the xi. chap, of St. Matthew, Among them, that 
are born of women, there hath not risen a greater 
than John the Baptist. To which I did answer, 
that there was no rule without an exception, and 
that St. Augustine was excepted from it: and this I 
proved by a maxim received among divines, viz. 
Injimum supremi excedit supremum infimi, the 



338 HISTORY OF THE 

least of a superior order exceeds the greatest of an 
inferior. There are three heavens, as St. Paul says, 
and, as other expositors, three orders. They place 
in the first heaven, the three divine persons, the 
Virgin Mar}^, St. Joseph, and St. Augustine; in the 
second, the spiritual intelligences; and in the third, 
St. John Baptist, at the head of all the celestial army 
of saints. Than, if St. Augustine is the last in the 
highest heaven, though St. John is the first in the 
lowest, we must conclude, by the aforementioned 
maxim, that the great father Augustine exceeds in 
glory all the saints of the heavenly court, as a due 
reward for his fervent zeal in praying, while he was 
here below among men. 

The more I remember this and the like nonsensi- 
cal proofs and methods of preaching, the more I 
thank God for his goodness in bringing me out of 
that communion into another, where by application, 
I learn how to make use of the Scripture, to the 
spirilual good of souls, and not to amusements which 
are prejudicial to our salvation. 

Thus I have given you an account of the public 
and private prayers of priests, friars, nuns and the 
laity; of the profits they have by it, and of the 
methods they take to recommend this exercise of 
praying, to all sorts and conditions of people. Sure 
I am, that after a mature consideration of their way 
of praying, and of that we make use of in our re- 
formed congregations, every body may easily know 
the great difterence between them both, and that the 
form and practice of prayers among Frpteslants, are 



POPISH CHURCH. 339 

more agreeable to God, then those of the Romish 
priests and friars can be. 

ARTICLE II. 
Of the adoration of Images. 

The adoration of images was commanded by 
several general councils, and many popes, whose 
commands and decrees are obeyed as articles of our 
christian faith, and ev^ry one that breaketh them, or, 
in. his outward practice, doth not conform to them, is 
punished by the inquisitors as an heretic — therefore, 
it is not to be wondered at, if people, educated in 
such a belief, without any knowledge of the sin of 
such idolatrous practices, do adore the images of the 
saints with the same, and sometimes more devotion 
of heart than they do God Almighty in Spirit. 

I begin, therefore, this ariicle with myself, and my 
awn forgetfulness of God. When I was in the 
college of Jesuits to learn grammar, the teachers 
were so careful in recommending to their scholars 
devotion to the Virgin Mary of Pilar, of Saragossa, 
that this doctrine, by long custom, was so deeply 
impressed in our hearts, that every body, after the 
school was over, used to go to visit the blessed image, 
this being a rule and a law for us all, which was 
observed with so great strictness, that if any student 
by accident missed that exercise of devotion, he was 
the next day severely whipped for it. For my part, 
I can aver, that during the three years I went to the 
college, I never was punished for want of devotion to 



340 HISTORY OP THE 

the Virgin. In the beginning of our exercises, we 
were bidden to write the following words, Dirige 
in calamum Virgo Maria ^ meum; Govern my pen, 
Virgin Mary ! And this was my constant practice 
in the beginning of all my scholastical and moral 
writings, for the space of ten years, in which, I do 
protest, before my eternal Judge, I do not remember 
whether I did invoke God, or call on his sacred 
name or not. This I remember, that in all my dis- 
tempers and sudden afflictions, my daily exclamation 
was, O Virgin del Pilar! Help me, Virgin! &c. 
so great was my devotion to her, and so great my 
forge tfulness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
And indeed a man that does not inquire into the 
matter, hath more reason, according to the doctrine 
taught in those places, to trust in the Virgin Mary, 
than in. Jesus Christ : for these are common expres- 
sions in their sermons; That neither God nor Jesus 
Christ can do any thing in Heaven, but what is 
approved by the blessed Mary, that she is the door 
of glory, and that nobody can enter into it, but by 
her influence, Sj'c. And the preachers give out these 
propositions as principles of our faith, insomuch, that 
if any body dares to believe the contrary, he is reputed 
an heretic, and punished as such. 

But because this article requireth a full explana- 
tion, and an account to be given of the smallest 
circumstances belonging to it, I shall keep the class 
and order of Saints, and of the adoration they are 
worshipped with, by most people of the Roman 
Catholic countries. And first of all, the image of 



POPISH CHURCH. 341 

-lesus Christ is adored as if the very image of wood 
was the very Christ of flesh and bones. To clear 
this, I will give an instance or two of what I saw 
myself. 

In the cathedral church of St. Salvator, there was 
an old image of Jesus Christ, crucified, behind the 
<ihoir, in a small unminded chapel; nobody took 
notice of that crucifix, except a devout prebend, or 
canon of the church, who did use every day to 
kneel down before that image, and pray heartly to 
it. The prebend (though a religious man in the 
outward appearance) was ambitious in his heart of 
■advancement in the church; so, one day, as he was 
on his knees before the old image, he was begging 
that, by its power and influence, he might be made 
a bishop, and after a cardinal, and lastly, pope; to 
which earnest request the image made him this 
answer: Ettu que me ves a qui, que hazes pormi? 
I, e. And thou seest me here, what dost thou do for 
^ne? These very words are written, at this present 
day, in gilt letters upon the crown of thorns of the 
crucifix: To which the prebend answered, Domine 
peccavi, et m^alwm coram te feci; i. e. Lord I hai)e 
tinned, and done evil be/ore thee. To this humble 
request, the image said. Thou shalt he a bishop; and 
accordingly he was made a bishop soon after. 
These words, spoken by the crucifix of the cathedral 
church, made such a noise, that crowds of well 
disposed, credulous people used to come every day 
to ofi'er their gifts to the miraculous image of our 
Saviour; and the image, which was not minded at all 

39 



342 HISTORY OP THE 

before, after it spoke, was, and has been ever since^ 
so much reverenced, that the offerings of the first six 
years were reckoned worth near a miUion of crowns. 
The history of the miracle reports, that the thing did 
happen in the year 1562, and that the chapter did 
intend to build a chapel in one corner of the church, 
to put the crucifix in with more veneration and 
decency; but the image spoke again to the prebend, 
and said. My pleasure is to continue where I am. 
till the end of the world: So the crucifix is kept 
in the same chapel, but richly adorned, and nobody 
ever since dare touch any thing belonging to the 
image, for fear of disobliging the crucifix. It has an 
old wig on its head, the very sight of which is enough 
to make every one laugh; its face looks so black and 
disfigured, that nobody can guess whether it is the 
face of a man or woman, but every body believes 
that it is a crucifix, by the other circumstances of the 
cross, and crown of thorns. 

The image is so much adored, and believed to 
have such a power of working miracles, that if they 
ever carry it out in a procession, it must be on an 
urgent necessity: For example, if there is a want 
of rain in such a degree that the harvest is almost lost 
then, by the common consent of the archbishop and 
chapter, a day is fixed to take the crucifix out of its 
chstpel in a public procession, at which all the 
priests and friars are to assist without any excuse, 
and the devout people too, with marks of repentance 
and public penances. Likewise the archbishop, 
viceroy, and magistrates, ought to assist in robes of 



POPISH CHURCH. 343 

mourning; so when the day comes, v^^hich is most 
commonly very cloudy, and disposed to rain, all the 
communities meet together in the cathedral church: 
And ill the year 1703, 1 saw, upon such an occasion 
as this, 600 disciplinants, whose blood ran from their 
shoulders to the ground, many others with long 
heavy crosses, others with a heavy bar of iron, or 
chains of the same, hanging at their necks; with such 
dismal objects in the middlc'^of the procession, twelve 
priests drest in black ornaments, take the crucifix on 
their shoulders, and with great veneration carry it 
through the streets, the eunuchs singing the litany. 

I said, that this image is never carried out but 
when there is great want of rain, and when there is 
sure appearance of plenteous rain ; so they never are 
disappointed in having a miracle published after 
smell a procession: Nay, sometimes it begins to rain 
before the crucifix is out of its place, and then the 
people are almost certain of the power of the image: 
So that year the chapter is sure to receive double 
tithes: For every body vows and promises two out 
of ten to the church for the recovery of the harvest. 

But what is more than this, is, that in the last 
wars between king Philip and king Charles, as the 
people were divided into two factions, they did give 
cut by the revelation of an ignorant, silly beata^ 
that the crucifix was a biitijiero, i. e. affectionate to 
king Philip; and at the same time there was another 
revelation, that his mother, the Virgin of Pilar, was 
an imperialist, L e. for king Charles; and the minds 
of the people were 30 much prejudiced with their 



S44 HISTORY OF THE 

opinions, that the partizans of Philip did go to tlie 
crucifix, and those of king Charles to the Virgin of 
Pilar. Songs were made upon this subject: one saidy 
When Charles the Third mounts on his horse, ths 
Virgin oj Pilar, holds the stirnp. The other said- 
When Philip comes to our land, the Crucifix of 
St. Salvator gtddes him by his hand. By these 
two factions, both the Virgin and her son's image 
began to lose the presents of one of the parties, aad 
the chapter, having made bitter complaint to the 
inquisitors, these did put a stop to their sacrilegious 
practices. So high is the people's opinion of the 
image of the crucifix, and so blind their faith, that 
all the world would not be able to persuade them 
that that image did not speak to the canon ar preben- 
dary, and that it cannot work miracles at any time. 
Therefore our custom was, after'school, to go first to 
to visit the crucifix, touch its feet with our hands^^ 
and kiss it, and from thence go to visit the image of 
the Virgin of Pilar, of which I am going to speak, 
as the next image to that of Jesus Christ, though, m 
truth, the first as to the people's devotion. 

And because the story, or history of the image, is not 
well known, (at least, I never saw any foreign book 
treat of it,) it seems proper to give a full account of it 
here, to satisfy the curiosity of many that love to 
read and hear; and this, I think, is worth every 
body's observation. 

The book, called The History of our Lady of 
Pilar, and her Miracles, contains, to the best Qimj 
memory, the following account: 



POPISH CHURCH. 345 

The apostle St. James came, with seven new con- 
verts, to preach the gospel in Saragossa, (a city 
famous for its antiquity, and for its founder Caesar 
Augustus; but more famous for the heavenly image 
of our lady,) and as they were sleeping on the river 
Ebro's side, a celestial music awakened them at mid- 
night, and they saw an army of angels, melodiously 
singing, come down from heaven, with an image on 
a pillar, which they placed on the ground, forty 
yards distant from the river, and the commanding 
angel spoke to St. James and said. This image of our 
queen shall be the defence of this city, where you 
come to plant the Christian religion, take therefore 
good courage, for, by her help and assistance, you 
shall not leave this city without reducing all the 
inhabitants of it to your Master's rehgion; and as 
she is to protect you, you also must signalize your- 
self in building, a decent chapel for her. The angels 
leaving the image on the earth, with the same melody 
ahd songs, went up to heaven, and St. James and 
his seven converts, on their knees began to pray, 
and thank God for this inestimable treasure sent ta 
them; and the next day they began to build a chapel 
with their own hands. 

I have already given an account of the chapel, 
and the riches of it; now I ought to say something of 
the idolatrous adoration given to that image, by all 
the Roman Catholics of that kingdom, and of all that 
go to visit her. 

The image has her own chaplain, besides the 
chapter of the prebends and other priests, as I have 

39* 



S46 HISTORY OF THE 

told before. The Virgin chaplain has more privilege 
and power than any king, archbishop, or any ecclesi- 
astical person, excepting the pope; for his business is 
only to dress the image every morning, which he 
doth in private, and without any help: I say in 
private, that is drawing the four curtains of the 
Vigin's canopy, that nobody may see the image 
naked. Nobody has liberty, but this chaplain, to 
approach so near the image, for as the author of the 
book says, ^n archbishop (who had so great assur- 
ance as to attempt to say mass on the altar table of 
the Virgin,) died upon the spot, before he began 
Tnass. I saw king Philip and king Charles, when 
they went to visit the image, stand at a distance 
from it. With these cautions it is very easy to give 
out, that nobody can know of what matter the image 
is made, that being a thing referred to the angels only 
so all the favor the Christians can obtain from the 
Virgin, is only to kiss her pillar, for it is contrived, 
that by having broke the wall backwards, a piece of 
pillar, as big as two crown pieces is shown, which is 
set out in gold round about, and there kings, and 
other people, kneel down to adore and kiss that part 
of the stone. The stones and lime that were taken, 
when the wall was broke, are kept for relics, and it 
is a singular favor, if any can get some small stone, 
by paying a great sum of money. 

There is always so great a crowd of people, that 
many times they cannot kiss the pillar; but touch \%. 
with one of their fingers, and kiss afterwards the 
part of the finger that touched the pillar. The large 



POPISH CHURCH. 347 

chapel of the lamp is always, night and day,, 
crowded with people; for as they say, that chapel 
was never empty of Christians, since St. James built 
it; so the people of the city, that work all day, go 
out at night to visit the image, and this blind devo- 
tion is not only among pious people, but among the 
profligate and debauched too, insomuch that a lewd 
woman will not go to bed without visiting the 
image; for they certainly believe, that nobody can 
be saved, if they do not pay this tribute of devotion 
to the sacred image. 

And to prove this erroneous belief, the chaplain, 
who dresses the image (as he is reckoned to be a 
heavenly man) may easily give out what stories he 
pleases, and make the people believe any revelation 
from the Virgin to him, as many of them are written 
in the book of the Virgin of Pilar, viz. Dr. Augus- 
tine Ramirez, chaplain to the image, in 1542, as he 
was dressing it, it talked with him for half a quarter 
of an hour, and said. 

My faithful and well beloved Augustine, I am 
very angry with the inhabitants of this my city for 
their ingratitude. Now, I tell you as my own chap- 
lain, that it is my will, and I command you to pub- 
lish it, and say the following words, which, is my 
speech to all the people of Saragossa: — Ungrateful 
people, remember that after my son died for the re- 
demption of the world, but more especially for you 
the inhabitants of this my chosen city, I was pleased 
two years after I went up to heaven, in body and 
soul, to pitch upon this select city for my dwelling 



348 HISTORY OF THE 

place; ihorotoiv 1 ooinmandod the aiiirols lo make 
ail image perfectly like my body, aiid another ot' my 
sou Jesus, on my aruis, and to set them both ou a 
pillar, whose matter nobody can know, and when 
both were fmished, 1 ordered them to be carried m 
a procession, round about the heavens, by the prin- 
cipal angels, the heavenly host following, ami after 
them the Trinity, wiio look me hi the middle: and 
when this proeossion was over in heaven, I sent 
them down with ilhnhnations and music to awake- 
my beloved .lames, who was asleep on the river 
side, commanding him by my ambassador Gabrial, 
to build with his own hands a chapel for my image^ 
wliich he did accordingly; and ever since I have 
been the defence of this city against the Saracen 
army, when by my mighty power. I killed in one 
night at the breach, 50,000 of them, putting the rest, 
to a precipitate llight. After this visible miracle, 
(for many saw me in the air fighting,) 1 have deli- 
vered them from the oppression of the jNloors, and 
preserved the laith and religion unpolluted for many 
years, in this my city. How many times have I 
succored them with vain in time o( need? How 
many sick have 1 healed ? How much riches are 
they masters of, by my unshaken atfection to them 
all ? And what is the recompense they give me lor 
all these benefits? Nothing but ingratitude. I 
have been ashamed tliese fifteen years, to speak 
before the eternal Father, who made me i]^ueen of 
this city: many and many times I am at court, with 
the three persons, to give my consent for pardoning 



POPISH c 11 ir u c If. 340 

several sinners; and when llie Father asketh nie 
about my city, I am so bashful that I cannot Hft up 
my eyes to him. lie knowcth very Avell their hi- 
gratitude, and blameth mo for sulFerins^ so long their 
covetousness: and this very morning, being called to 
the council of the Trinity for passing the divine 
decree, under our hands and seal for tlie bishoprick 
of Saragossa, the Holy Spirit has affronted me, 
saying I was not worthy to be of the private council 
of heaven, because I did not know how to govern 
and punish the criminals of my chosen city; and I 
have vowed not to go again to the heavenly court, 
until 1 get satisfaction from my offenders. So I 
thunder out this sentence, against the inhabitants of 
Saragossa, that I have resolved to take away my 
image from them, and resign my government to 
Lucifer, if they do not come, for the space of fifteen 
days, every day with gifts, tears and penances, to 
make due subnussion to my image, for the faults 
committed by them these fifteen years. And if they 
come witli prodical hands, and true hearts, to ap- 
pease my wrath, which I am pleased with, they 
shall see the rainbow for a signal, that I receive 
them again into my favor. But, if not, they may be 
sure that the Prince of Darkness shall come to rule 
and reign over them; and further, I do declare, that 
they shall have no appeal, from this my sentence, to 
the tribunal of the Father; for this is my will and 
pleasure. 

After this revelation was published, all the inhabi- 
tants of the city were under such a concern, that the 



350 HISTORY OF THE 

magistrates, by the Archbishop's order, pubUshed an 
ordinance for all sorts of people to fast three days 
every week, and not to let the cattle go out those 
days, and to make the cattle fast as well as the 
reasonable creatures-, and as for the infants, not to 
suckle them but once a day. All sorts of work were 
forbidden for fifteen days time, in which the 
people went to confess and make public penances, 
and offer whatever money and rich jewels they bad, 
to the Virgin. 

Observe now, that the publishing of the revelation 
was in the month of May, and it is a customary 
thing for that country to see almost every day the 
rainbow at that time : so there was by all proba- 
biiity, certain hopes that the rainbow would not fail 
to show its many colored faces to the inhabitants of 
Saragossa, as did happen on the eleventh day ; but 
it was too late for them, for they had bestowed all 
their treasures on the ima2:e of the Virgin. Then 
the rejoicings began, and the people were almost 
mad for joy, reckoning themselves the most happy, 
blessed people in the universe. 

By these and the like re^^elations, given out every 
day by the Virgin's chaplain, the people are so much 
mfatuated, that they certainly believe there is no 
salvation for any soul without the consent of the 
Virgin of Pilar ; so they never fail to visit her image 
every day, and to pay her due homage, for fear that 
if she is angry again, Lucifer should come to reign 
over them. And this is done by the Virgin's crafty 
chaplain, to increase her treasure and his own too. 



POPISH CHURCH. 351 

As to him, I may aver, that the late chaplain, Don 
Pedro Valenzula was but five years in the Virgin's 
service ; yearly rent is 1000 pistoles, and when he 
died, he left in his testament, 20,000 pistoles to the 
Virgin, and 10,000 to his relations ; now how he got 
30,000 pistoles clear in six years, every body may 
imagine. 

As to the miracles wrought by this image, I could 
begin to give an account, but never make an end ; 
and this subject requiring a whole book to itself, I 
will not trouble the reader with it, hoping in God 
that if he is pleased to spare my life some years, I 
shall print a book of their miracles and revelations^ 
that the world may, by it, know the inconsistent 
grounds and reasons of the Romish communion. 

Now, coming again to the adoration of images, I 
cannot pass by one or two instances more of the 
image of Jesus Christ, adored by the Roman Catholics. 

The first is that of the crucifix in the monument, 
both on Thursday and Friday of the holy week. 
The Roman Catholics have a custom on holy Thurs- 
day, to put the consecrated host in the monument 
till Friday morning at eleven of the clock, as I have 
already said, treating the estation of the holy Calvary. 

Now I will confine myself wholly to the adoration 
paid to the crucifix, and all the material instruments 
of our Saviour's passion, by priests, friars, and magis- 
trates. In every parish church and convent of friars 
and nuns, the priests form a monument, which is of 
the breadth of the great altar's front, consisting of 
ten or twelve steps, that go gradually up to the Ara, 



352 HISTORY OF THE 

or altars table, on which hes a box, gilt, and adorned 
with jewels, wherein they keep for twenty-four 
hours, the great host, which the priest that officiates, 
has consecrated on Thursday, between eleven and 
twelve. In this monument, you may see as many 
wax candles as parishioners belonging to t?iat church, 
and which burn twenty-four hours continually. At 
the bottom of the monument there is a crucifix laid 
down on a black velvet pillow, and two silver dishes 
on each side. At three of the clock, in the afternoon, 
there is a sermon preached by the Lent preachers, 
whose constant text is, Mandatum novuTn do vobis, 
ut diligatis invicein, sictit dilexi vos. Expressing 
in it, the excessive love of our Saviour towards us. 
After it the prelate washes the feet of twelve poor 
people, and all this while the people that go from 
one church to another, to visit the monuments, kneel 
down before the crucifix, kiss its feet, and put a 
.piece of money hito one of the dishes. The next 
day, in the morning, there is another sermon of the 
passion of our Saviour, wherein the preacher recom- 
mends the adoration of the cross according to the 
solemn ceremony of the church. That day, i. e. 
Good Friday, there is no Mass in the Romish church, 
for the host which was consecrated the day before, 
is received by the minister, or prelate, that officiates, 
and when the passion is sung then they begin the 
adorafon of the crucifix, which is at the bottom of 
the monument, which is performed in the following 
manner : First of all, the priest that officiates, or the 
bishop when he is present, pulling off his shoes, goes 



3?GPISH CHURCH. 353 

s^nd kneels down three times before the crucifix, 
kisses its feet, and in the same manner comes back 
again to his own place. All the priests do the same, 
but without putting any thing into the dish, this 
l;)eing only a tribute to be paid by the magistrates 
and laity. This being done by all the magistrates, 
the priest bids them to come at four in the afternoon, 
to the descent of Jesus Chsist, from the cross, and 
tliis is another idolatrous ceremony and adoration. 

The same crucifix that was at the bottom of the 
monument, is put on the great altar's table, veiled 
or covered with two curtains, and when the people 
are gathered together in the churchy the chapter or 
community comes out of the vestry, and kneeling 
down before the altar, begins in a doleful manner to 
sing the psalm, Miserere, and when they come to 
the verse, Tthi soli peccavi, S^^c, they draw the cur- 
tains, and show the image of Christ crucified to the 
people. Then the preacher goes up to the pulpit, to 
preach of the pains and afflictions of the Virgin 
Mary, (whose image shedding tears is placed before 
the image of her son.) I once preached upon this 
occasion in the convent of St. Augustine, in the city 
of Huesca, and my text was, Jlnimam meam per- 
transivit gladius. After the preacher has exagge- 
rated the unparalleled pains of the Virgin Mary, 
seeing her son suffer death in so ignominious a 
manner, he orders Satellites (so they call those that 
stand with the nails, hammer and other instruments 
used in their crucifixion) to go up to the cross, and 
take the crown of thorns off the crucifixes head, and 

40 



354 HISTORY oy the 

then he preaches on that actian representhig to the 
people his sufferings as movingly as possible. After 
the Satellites have taken the nails out of the hands 
and feet, they bring down the body of Jesns, and 
i'ay him in the coiEn, and when the sermon is over, 
the procession begins, all in black, which is called 
the burying of Christ. In that procession, which i& 
always in the dark of the evening, there are vast 
numbers of disciplinants that go along with it, whip- 
ping themselves, and shedding their blood, till the 
body of Jesus is put into the sepulchre. Then every 
body goes to adore the sepulchre, and after the 
adoration of it, begins the procession of the estations 
of the holy Calvary, of which I have spoken already 
in the second chapter of this book. 

I will not deprive the public of another supersti- 
tious ceremony of the Romish Priests, which is very 
diverting, and by which their ignorance will be more 
exposed to the world; and this is practised on the 
Sunday before Easter, which is called Dominica 
Palmarum, in which the church commemorates the 
triumphat entry of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, sitting 
on an ass, the people spreading their clothes and 
branches of olive trees on the ground: so, in imita- 
tion of this triumph, they do the same in some 
churches and convents. 

The circumstance of one being representative of 
Jesus, on an ass, I never saw practised in Saragossa, 
and I was quite unacquainted with it till I went to 
Alvalate, a town that belongs to the archbishop in 
temporalibus and spiritualibus, whither I was obliged 



POPISH CHURCH. 355 

to retire witli his Grace, in his precipitate flight 
from King Charles"'s army., for fear of being taken 
prisoner of state. We were there at the Franciscan 
convent on that Sunday., and the archbishop being 
Invited to the ceremony of the rehgions triumph, I 
went Avitii him to see it, which was performed in the 
following manner. 

All the friars being in the body of the church, the 
guardian placing his Grace at the right hand, the 
procession began, every friar having a branch of 
olive trees in his hand, which was blessed by the 
Rev. Father Guardian ; so the cross going before, the 
procession went out of the church to a large yard 
before it : But, what did we see at the door of the 
church, but a fat friar, di^ssed hke a Nazareen, on a 
clever ass, two friars holding the stirrups, and 
another pulling the ass by the bridle. The represen- 
tative of Jesus Christ took place before the arch- 
bishop. Tlie ass was an he one, though not so fat 
as the friar, but the ceremony of throwing branches 
and clothes before him, being quite strange to him, 
lie began to start and caper, and at last threw down 
the heavy load of the friar. — The ass ran away, 
leaving the reverend on the ground, with one arm 
broken. This unusual ceremony was so pleasing to 
us all, that his Grace, notwithstanding his deep 
melancholy, laughed heartily at it. The ass was 
brought back, and another friar, making the repre- 
sentative, put an end to this asslike ceremony. 

But the ignorance and superstition begins now ; 
W^^en the ceremony v/as over, a novice took the ass 



3^6 HISTORY OP THE 

by the bridle, and began to walk in the cloister, and 
every friar made a reverence, passing by, and the 
people kneeling down before him, said, happy ass Z 
But his Grace displeased at so great a superstition^ 
spoke to the guardian, and desired him not to suffer 
his friars to give such an example to the ignorant 
people, as to adore the ass. The guardian was a- 
pleasant man, and seeing the archbishop so melan- 
choly, only to make him laugh, told his Grace that 
it was impossible for him to obey his Grace, without 
removing all his friars to another convent, and bring; 
a new community. Why so? said his Grace. Be- 
cause (replied the guardian) all my fi'iars are he asses. 
And you the guardian of them (answered his Grace.) 
Thus priests and friars excite the people, to adore 
images. 

But because this article of images, and that of 
relics, contribute very much to the discovery of the. 
idolatries, and of the bigotries and superstitions of all 
those of that communion, I shall not leave this 
subject, without giving an account of some remarka- 
ble images which are worshiped and adored by 
them alL 

They have innumerable images of Christ, the 
Virgin Mary, the angels and saints in the streets, ia 
small chapels built within the thickness of the Avails, 
and most commonly in the corners of the streets,., 
which the people adore, kneel down before, and 
make prayers and supplications to. They say, that 
many of those images have spoken to some devoul 
persons, as that of St. Philip Nery did to a eertaii^ 



POPISH CHURCH. 357 

ambitious priest, who, walking through the street 
where the image was, was talking within himself, 
and saying. Now I am a priest, next year I hope to 
be a dean, after bishop, then cardinal, and after all, 
summus pontifex. To which soliloquy the image of 
St. Philip answered, xlnd after all these honors comes 
death, and after death hell and damnation forever. 
The priest, being surprised at this answer, so much 
apropos, and looking up and down he saw the mouth 
of the image open, by which he concluded that the 
image had given him the answer; and so, taking a 
firm resolution to leave all the thoughts of this 
deceitful v/orld, with his own money he purchased 
the house where the image was, and built a decent 
chapel in honor of St. Philip, which now, by the 
gifts of pious people, is so much enlarged, that we 
reckon St. Philip's church and parish to be the third 
in the city for riches, the number of beneficiate 
priests being forty-six, besides the rector. 

In St. Philip's church there is a miraculous cru- 
cifix, called El santo Christo de las Peridas; The 
holy Christ of child-bed women; which is much 
frequented by all people, but chiefly by the ladies, 
who go there to be churched, and leave the purifica- 
tion offering mentioned hi the ceremonial law of 
Moses. And as there is this image which is an ad- 
vocate of women delivered of child, there are also 
two images, who are advocates of barren women, 
one of the Virgin in the convent of Recolet friars of 
St. Augustine, and another of St. Antonio del Paula: 
The first is called the barren women, the second, the 

40* 



358 HISTORY OF THE 

intercessor of the barren ladies. This second image m 
in the convent of Victorian friars, and is S:ept in a 
gilt box in a chapel within the cloister, and the door 
is always locked up, and the key kept by the father 
corrector, i. e. the superior of the convent. 

Another practice, of paying worship and adoration 
to the Virgin Mother, and her child Jesus in a man- 
ger, is observed on Christmas, and eight days after : 
But especially the nuns do signalize themselves on 
this festival, and that on which Jesus was lost and 
found again in the temple; for they hide the child 
in some secret place under the altar's table, and 
after evening songs they run up and down through 
the garden, cloisters and church, to see whether they 
can find the innocent child, and the nun that finds 
him out, is excused ; for that year, from all the pain- 
ful offices of the convent; but she is to give, for three 
days together, a good dinner to alt the nuns and 
and father confessor; and that year she may go to 
the grate at any time, without any leave or fear, for 
she doth not assist at the public service of prayers; 
in short, she has liberty of conscience that year, for 
finding the lost child, and she is often lost too at the 
end of the year, by following a licentious sort of a 
life. 

These are, in some measure, voluntary devotions 
and adorations, but there are many others by pre- 
cept of the church, and ordinances of several popes, 
who have granted proper services to several images, 
with which priests and friars do serve and adore 
them, or else they commit a mortal sin, as well as if 



POPISH CHURCH. 359 

they neglected the divine and ecclesiastical service, 
and the due observance of the ten commandments of 
the law of God. I will give a few instances of these 
adorations by precept, and with them I shall conclude. 

There are in the church of Rome, proper services 
granted by the popes for the invention or finding out 
of the cross, and for the exaltation of it, and every 
priest, friar, and nun, is obliged in conscience, to say 
these services in honor of the cross, and this is pro- 
perly adoration, for they say in the hymn. Let us 
come and adore the holy cross, &c., and the people 
do the same after them. T'hey carry the cross on 
the third of May, and on the great Litany-days, in 
a solemn procession, to some high place out of the 
town, and after the officiating priest has lifted up the 
cross towards the south, north, west, and east, bless- 
ing the four parts of the world, and singing the 
Litany, the procession comes back to the church. 
These festivals are celebrated Avith more devotion 
and veneration, as to the outward appearance, than 
pomp and magnificence, except in the churches dedi- 
cated to the holy cross, where this being the titular 
festival, is constantly performed with all manner of 
ceremonies, as the days of the first class. 

There are proper services granted to the Virgin 
Mary, under the following names: The Virgin of 
the rose of St. Dominick, of the girdle of St. Augus- 
tine, or the rope of St. Francis, and of the scapulary 
of Mount Carmel. All these distinguishing signs of 
the Virgin Mary, are celebrated by the church and 
fraternities of devout people, and adored by all 



360 HISTORY OF THE 

christians, being all images and relics to be worshiped 
by the command of the pope. Now, by what has 
been said, where can we find expressions fit to ex- 
plain the wickedness of the Romish priests, the ig- 
norance of the poople, committed to their charge, 
and theidolatrous, nonsensical, ridiculous ceremonies 
with which they serve, not God, but saints, giving 
them more tribute of adoration than to the Almighty? 
I must own, that the poor people who are easily 
persuaded of every thing, are not so much to be 
blamed, but the covetous, barbarous clergy; for these 
(though many of them are very blind) are not to be 
supposed ignorant of what sins they do commit, and 
advise the people to commit: so, acting against the 
dictates of their own consciences, they, I believe, 
must answer for their illguided flock, before the 
tribunal of the living God, 



THE 
INaUISITION OF GO A. 

[from dr. Buchanan's researches in asia.] 

^'Goa, Convent of the ^ugustinians, Jan. 23, ISOS. 

'^^Oii my arrival at Goa, I was received into the 
house of Captain Schuyler, the British Resident. 
The British force here is commanded by Col. Adams, 
of his Majesty's 78th regiment, with whom I was 
formerly well acquainted in Bengal.* Next day I 
was introduced by these gentlemen to the Viceroy 
of Goa, the Comit de Cabral. I intimated to his 
excellency my wish to sail up the river to old Goa,t 
(where the Inquisition is,) to which he politely 
acceded. Major Pareira, of the Portuguese estab- 

*The forts in the harbor of Goa were then occupied by British, 
troops, (two King's regiments, and tv/o regiments of native 
infantry,) to prevent its falling into the hands of the French. 

fThere is an Old and New Goa. The old city is about eight 
miles up the river. The Viceroy and the chief Portuguese 
inhabitants reside at New Goa, which is at the mouth of the river, 
within the forts of the harbor. The old city, where the Inquisi- 
tion and the Churches are, is now almost entirely deserted by 
the secular Portuguese, and is inhabited by the priests alone. 
The unheal thiness of the place, and the ascendancy of the priests, 
are the causes assigned for abandoning the ancient city. 



362 INQUISITION OF GOA. 

iishment, who was present, and to whom I had 
letters of introduction from Bengal, offered to accom- 
pany me to the city, and to introduce me to the 
archbishop of Goa, the Primate of the Orient. 

^'I had communicated to Col. Adams, and to the 
British Resident, my purpose of inquiring into the 
state of the Inquisition. These gentlemen informed 
me, that I should not be able to accomplish my 
design without difficulty; since every thing relating 
to the Inquisition was conducted in a very secret 
manner, the most respectable of the lay Portuguese 
themselves being ignorant of its proceedings; and 
that, if the priests were to discover my object, their 
excessive jealousy and alarm would prevent their 
communicating with me, or satisfying my inquiries 
on any subject. 

'•On receiving this intelligence, I perceived that it 
would be necessary to proceed with caution. I was, 
m fact, about to visit a republic of priests ; whose 
dominion had existed for nearly three centuries; 
whose province it was to prosecute heretics, and 
particularly the teachers of heresy; and from whose 
authority pdid sentence there was no appeal in India. 
"It happened that Lieutenant Kemp thorn e. Com- 
mander of His Majesty's brig Diana, a distant con- 
nexion of my own, was at this lime in the harbor. 
On his learning that I meant to visit Old Goa, he 
offered to accompany me, as did Captain Stirling, of 
His majesty's 84th regiment, which is now sta- 
tioned at the forts. 
^'We proceedee up the river in the British Hesi- 



INQUISITION OF GO A. 463 

dent's barge, accompanied by Major Pareira, who 
was well qualified by thirty years' residence, to give 
information concerning local circumstances. From 
him I learned that there were upwards of two 
hundred Churches and Chapels in the province of 
Goa, and upwards of two thousand priests. 

''On our arrival at the city, it was past twelve 
o'clock; all the churches were shut, and we were 
told that they would not be opened again till two 
o'clock. I mentioned to jMajor Pa.reira, that I 
intended to stay at Old Goa some days; and that I 
should be obliged to him to find me a place to sleep 
in. He seemed surprised at this intimation, and 
observed that it would be difficult for me to obtain a 
reception in any of the Churches or Convents, and 
that there were no private houses into which I could 
be admitted. I said I could sleep any where; I had 
two servants with me, and a travelling bed. When 
he perceived that I was serious in my purpose, he 
gave directions to a civil officer in that place, to clear 
out a room in a building which had long been unin- 
habited, and which Avas then used as a Avarehouse 
for goods. Matters at this time presented a very 
gloomy appearance: and I had thoughts of return- 
ing with my companions from this inhospitable 
place. In the mean time we sat down in the room 
I have just mentioned, to take some refreshment, 
while Major Pareira went to call on some of his 
friends. During this interval, I communicated to 
Lieut. Kempthorne the object of my visit. I had in 
my pocket Qellon's Account of the Inquisition at 



364 INQUISITIOK OF GOA. 

Goa;'* and I mentioned some particulars. While 
we were conversing on the subject, the great bell of 
the Cathedral began to toll; the same which Dellon 
observes, always tolls before day-light, on the morn- 
ing of the Auto da Fe. I did not myself ask any 
questions of the people concerning the inquisition; 
but Mr. Kempthorne made inquiries for me : and he 
soon found out that the Santa Casa, or Holy Office 
was close to the house where we were then sitting. 
The gentlemen went to the window to view the 
horrid mansion; and I could see the indignation of 
free and enlightened men arise in the countenances 
of the two British officers, while they contemplated 
a place where formerly their own countrymen were 
condemned to the flames, and into which they them- 
selves might now suddenly be thrown, without the 
possibility of rescue. 

"At two o'clock we went out to view the churches 
which were now open for the afternoon service; for 
there are regular daily masses; and the bells began 
to assail the ea.r in every quarter. 

*'The magnificence of the churches of Goa, far 
exceeded any idea I had formed from the previous 
description. Goa is properly a city of Churches; and 
the wealth of provinces seems to have been expended 
in their erection. The ancient specimens of archi- 

*Moiisleur Dellon, a physician, was imprisoned in a dungeon of the 
Inquisition at Goa for two years and witnessed an Auto da Fe, when 
some heretics were burned; at which time he walked barefoot. After 
his release he wrote the history of his confinement. His descriptions 
are in general very accurate. 



INQUISITION OF GOA. 365 

tecture at this place, far excel any thing that has 
been attempted in modern - times, in any other part 
of the East, both in grandeur and in taste. The 
chapel of the palace is built after the plan of St. 
Peter's at Rome, and is said to be an accurate model 
of that paragon of architecture. The church of St. 
Dominic, the founder of the Inquisition, is decorated 
with paintings of Italian masters. St. Francis Xavier 
lies enshrined in a monument of exquisite art, and 
his coffin is enchased with silver and precious stones. 
The cathedral of Goa is worthy of one of the princi- 
pal cities of Europe; and the church and convent of 
the Augustinians (in which I now reside) is a noble 
pile of building, situated on an eminence, and has a 
magnificent appearance from afar. 

"But what a contrast to all this grandeur of the 
churches is the worship offered in them ! I have been 
present at the chapels every day since I arrived; and 
seldom see a single worshipper, but the ecclesiastics. 
Two rows of native priests, kneeling in order before 
the altar, clothed in coarse black garments, of sickly 
appearance, and vacant countenances, perform here, 
from day to day, their laborious masses; seemingly 
unconscious of any other duty or obligation of life. 

"The day was now far spent, and my companions 
were about to leave me. While I was considering 
whether I should return with them. Major Pareira 
said he would first introduce me to a priest, high in 
office, and one of the most learned men in the place. 
We accordingly walked to the convent of the Augus- 
tinians, where I was presented to Josephus a Dolor- 

41 



S66 INQUISITION OF GO A. 

ibus, a man well advanced in life, of pale visage'^ 
and penetrating eye, rather of a reverend appearance 
and possessing great fluency of speech and urbanity 
of manners. At first sight he presented the aspect 
of one of those acute and prudent men of the world, 
the learned and respectable Italian Jesuits, some of 
whom are yet found, since the demolition of their 
order, reposing in tranquil obscurity, in different parts 
of the East. After half an hour's conversation in 
the Latin language, during which he adverted rapidly 
to a variety of subjects, and inquired concerning some 
learned men of his own church, whom I had visited 
in my tour, he politely invited me to take up my 
residence with him during my stay at old Goa. I 
was highly gratified by this unexpected invitation ; 
but lieutenant Kempthorn did not approve of leaving 
me in the hands of the Inquisitor : for judge our 
surprise, when we discovered that my learned host 
Avas one of the Inquisitors of the holy office, the 
second member of that august tribunal in rank, but 
the first and most active agent in the business of the 
department. Apartments were assigned to me in 
the college adjoining the convent, next to the rooms 
of the Inquisitor himself; and here I have been four 
days at the very fountain-head of information, in 
regard to those subjects which I wished to investi- 
gate. I breakfast and dine with the Inquisitor 
almost every day, and he generally passes his even- 
ings in my apartment. As he considers my inquiries 
to be chiefly of a literary nature, he is perfectly can- 
did and communicative on all subjects. 



INQUISITION OF GOA. 367 

'^Next day after my arrival, I was introduced by 
my learned conductor to the Archbishop of Goa. 
We found him reading the Latin Letters of St. 
Francis Xavier. On my adverting to the long dura- 
lion of the city of Goa, while other cities of Euro- 
peans in India had suffered from war or revolution, 
the Archbishop observed that the preservation of Goa 
was ^ owing to the prayers of St. Francis Xavier.' 
The Inquisitor looked at me to see what I thought of 
this sentiment. I acknowledged that Xavier was 
considered by the learned among the English to have 
been a great man. ^Vhat he wrote himself bespeaks 
him a man of learning, of original genius, and great 
fortitude of mind; hut what others have written for 
him and of him, has tarnished his fame, by making 
him the inventor of fables. The Archbishop signified 
h s assent. He afterwards conducted me into his 
private chapel, which is decorated with images of 
silver, and then into the Archiepiscopal Library, 
which possesses a valuable collection of books. As 
I passed through our convent, in returning from the 
Archbishop's I obseiwed among the paintings in the 
cloisters a portrait of the famous Alexis de Menezes, 
Archbishop of Goa, who held the Synod of Diamper 
near Cochin in 1599, and burned the books of the 
Syrian Christians. From the inscription underneath 
I learned that he was the founder of the magnificent 
church and convent in which I am now residing." 

'• On the same day I received an invitation to dine 
with the chief Inquisitor, at his house in the country. 
T'iie second Inquisitor accompaniad me, and we 



368 INQUISITION OF GOA. 

found a respectable company of priests, and a 
sumptuous entertainment. In the library of the 
chief Inquisitor, I saw a register containing the 
present establishment of the Inquisition at Goa, and 
the names of all the officers. On my asking the 
chief Inquisitor whether the establishment was as 
extensive as formerly, he said it was nearly the 
same. I had hitherto said little to any person con- 
cerning the Inquisition, but I had indirectly gleaned 
much information concerning it, not only from the 
Inquisitors themselves, but from certain priests, whom 
I visited at their respective convents, particularly from 
a father in the Franciscan convent, who had himself 
repeatedly witnessed an Auto da Fe. '' 

" Goa, Jiu^Lstinian Convent, 2Qth Jan, 1808. 

" On Sunday, after Divine Service, which I attend- 
ed, we looked over together the prayers and portions 
of Scripture for the day, which led to a discussion 
concerning some of the doctrines of Christianity. 
We then read the third chapter of St. John's Gospel, 
in the Latin Vulgate. I asked the Inquisitor 
whether he believed in the influence of the Spirit 
there spoken of. He distinctly admitted it; conjointly 
however he thought in some obscure sense with 
water. I observed that water was merely an em- 
blem of the purifying ofl'ects of the Spirit, and could 
be but an emblem. We next adverted to the expres- 
sion of St. John in his first epistle, 'This is he that 
came by water and blood: even Jesus Christ; not by 
water only, but by water and blood;' — blood tQ 



INQUISITION OF GOA. 369 

atone for sin, and water to purify the heart; justifi- 
cation and sanctification, both of which were 
expressed at the same moment on the cross. The 
inquisitor was pleased with the subject. I referred to 
the evangeUcal doctrines of Augustin (we were now 
in the Augustinian convent) plainly asserted by that 
father in a thousand places, and he acknowledged 
their truth. I then asked him, in what important 
doctrine he differed from the protestant church ! He 
confessed that he never had had a theological discus- 
sion with a protestant before. By an easy transition 
we passed to the importance of the Bible itself, to 
illuminate the priests and people. I noticed to him, 
that after looking through the colleges and schools, 
there appeared to me to be a total eclipse of Scriptural 
light. He acknowledged that religion and learning 
were truly in a degraded state. I had visited the 
theological schools, and at every place I expressed 
my surprise to the tutors, in presence of the pupils, 
at the absence of the Bible and almost total want of 
reference to it. They pleaded the custom of the place, 
and the scarcity of copies of the book itself. Some of 
the younger priests came to me afterwards, desiring 
to know by what means they might procure copies. 
This inquiry for Bibles was like a ray of hope beam- 
ing on the walls of the Inquisition. 

" I pass an hour sometimes in the spacious library 
of the Augustinian convent. There are many rare 
volumes, but they are chiefly theological, and almost 
all of the sixteenth century. There are few classics ; 



41^ 



370 INQUISITION OF GOA. 

and I have not yet seen one copy of the origmal 
Scriptures m Hebrew or Greek. '' 

Goa, f^ugustinian Convent, Jan. 1808. 

" On the second morning after my arrival, I was 
surprised by my host, the Inquisitor, coming into my 
apartment clothed in black robes from head to foot ; 
for the usual dress of his order is white. He said he 
was going to sit on the tribunal of the Holy Office. 
^I presume, Father, your august office does not occupy 
much of your time.' ^Yes,' ans^^ered he, 'much. I 
sit on the tribunal three or four days every week.' 

"I had thought, for some days, of putting Dellon's 
book into the Inquisitor's hand; for if I could get 
him to advert to the facts stated in that book, I 
should be able to learn, by comparison, the exact 
state of the Inquisition at the present time. In the 
evening he came in, as usual, to pass an hour in my 
apartment. After some conversation, I took the 
pen in my hand to write a few notes in my journal ; 
and, as if to amuse him, while I was writing, I took 
up Dellon's book, which was lying with some others 
on the table, and handing it across to him, asked him 
whether he had ever seen it. It was in the French 
language, which he understood well. — 'Relation de 
I'Inquisition de Goa,' pronounced he, with a slow 
articulate voice. He had never seen it before, and 
began to read with eagerness. He had not pro- 
ceeded far, before he betrayed evident symptoms of 
uneasiness. He turned hastily to the middle of the 
book, and then to the end, and then ran over the 



INQUISITION or GOA. 373 

table of contents at the beginning, as if to ascertain 
the full extent of the evil. He then composed him- 
self to read, while I continued to write. He turned 
over the pages with rapidity, and when he came to 
a certain place, he exclaimed in the broad Italian 
accent * Mendacium, Mendacium.' I requested he 
would mark those passages which were untrue, and 
we should discuss them afterwards, for that I had 
other books on the subject. ' Other books,' said he, 
and he looked with an enquiring eye on those on the 
table. He continued reading till it was time to retire 
to rest^ and then begged to take the book with him. 
It was on this night that a circumstance happened 
Tvhich caused my first alarm at Goa. My servants 
slept every night at my chamber door, in the long 
gallery which is common to all the apartments, and 
not far distant from the servants of the convent. 
About midnight I was awaked by loud shrieks and 
expressions of terror, from some person in the gallery. 
In the first moment of surprise, I concluded it must 
be the Mguazils of the holy office, seizing my ser- 
vants to carry them to the Inquisition. But, on 
going out, I saw my own servants standing at the 
door, and the person who had caused the alarm (a 
boy of about fourteen) at a little distance, surrounded 
by some of the priests, who had come out of their 
cells on hearing the noise. The boy said he had 
seen a spectre, and it was a considerable time before 
the agitation of his body and voice subsided. Next 
morning at breakfast the Inquisitor apologized for 
the disturbance, and said the boy's alarm proceeded 



374 INQUISITION OF GO A. 

from a ^phantasma animi/ a phantasm of the imagi- 
nation. 

'•After breakfast we resumed the subject of the 
Inquisition. The Inquisitor admitted that Dellon's 
descriptions of the dungeons, of the torture, of the 
mode of trial, and of the Auto da Fe, were in gene- 
ral, just; but he said the writer judged untruly of 
the motives of the Inquisitors, and very uncharitably 
of the character of the Holy Church; and I admitted 
that under the pressure of his peculiar suffering, this 
might possibly be the case. The Inquisitor was 
now anxious to know to what extent Dellon's book 
had been circulated in Europe. I told him that 
Picart had published to the world extracts from it, 
in his celebrated work called 'Religious Ceremonies;' 
together with plates of the system of torture and 
burniugs at the Auto da Fe. I added that it was 
now generally believed in Europe, that these enor- 
mities no longer existed, and that the Inquisition 
itself had been totally suppressed; but that I was con- 
cerned to find that this was not the case. He now 
began a grave narration to show that the inquisition 
had undergone a change in some respects, and that 
its terrors were mitigated.'^* 

* The following were the passages in Mr. Dellon's narrative, to 
which I wished particularly to draw the attention of the Inquisitor. 
Mr. B. had been thrown into the Inquisition at Goa, and confined in 
a dungeon, ten feet square, where he remained upwards of two years, 
without seeing any person but the jailer, who brought him his victuals, 
except when he was brought to his trial, expecting daily to be brought 
to the stake. His alleged crime was, charging the Inquisition with 
cruelty, in a conversation he had with a Priest at Daman, another 
part of India. 



INQUISITION OP GO A. SlS 

"I had already discovered, from written or printed 
documents, that the Inquisition at Goa was sup- 
pressed by Royal Edict in the year 1775, and estab- 
lished again in 1799. The Franciscan father before 
mentioned, witnessed the annual Auto da Fe, from 
1770 .to 1775. ^It was the humanity and tender 

"During the months of November and December, I heard every 
morning, the shrieks of the unfortunate victims, who were undergoing 
the Question. I remembered to have heard, before I was cast intO 
prison, that the Auto da Fe was generally celebrated on the lirst 
Sunday in Advent, because on that day is read in the Churches that 
part of the Gospel in which mention is made of the xast judgsiext ; 
and the Inquisitors pretend by this ceremony to exhibit a living em- 
blem of that awful event. I was likewise convinced that there were 
a great number of prisoners besides myself; the profound silence 
which reigned within the walls of the building, having enabled me to 
count the number of doors n'hich were opened at the hours of meals. 
However, the first and second Sundays of Advent passed by without 
my hearing of any thing, and I prepared to undergo anothei year of 
melancholy captivity, when I was aroused from my despair on the 11th 
of January, by the noise of the guards removing the bars from the 
doors of my prison. The Jilcaide presented me with a habit, which 
he ordered me to put on, and make myself ready to attend him when 
he should come again. 1'hus saying, he left a lighted lamp in my 
dungeon. The guards returned, about two o'clock in the morning, 
and led me out into a long gallery, where I found a number of the 
companions of my fate, drawn up in a rank against the wall : I placed 
myself among the rest, and several more soon joined the melancholy 
band. The profound silence and stillness caused them to resembl« 
statues more than the animated bodies of human creatures. The 
women, who were clothed in a similar manner, were placed in a neiglt- 
boring gallery, where we could not see them ; but I remarked that a 
number of peisons stood by themselves at some distance, attended by 
others who wore long black dresses, and who walked backwards and 
forwards occasionally. I did not then know who these were : but I 



376 INQTJISITION OF GOA. 

mercy of a good king,' said the old father, ^which 
abohshed the inquisition.' But immediately on his 
death, tlie power of the priests acquired the ascen- 
dant, under the queen dowager, and the tribunal 
was re-established, after a bloodless interval of five 
years. It has continued in operation ever since. It 

was afterwards informed that the former were the victims who were 
condemned to be burnt, and the others were their confessors. 

"After we were all ranged against the wall of this gallery, we 
received each a large wax taper. They then brought us a number of 
dresses made of yellow cloth, v/ith the cross of St. Andrew painted 
before and behind. Tliis is called the San Benito. The relapsed 
heretics wear another species ef robe, called the Samarra, the ground 
of which is gtey. The portrait of the sufferer is painted upon it, 
placed upon burning torches with, flames and demons all round. Caps 
were then produced, called Carrochas, made of pasteboard pointed 
like sugar-loaves, all covered over with devils and flames of fire. 

"The great bell of the Cathedral began to ring a little before sunrise, 
which served as a signal to warn the people of God to come and 
behold the august ceremony of the Auto da Fe; and then they made 
us proceed from the gallery one by one. I remarked as we passed 
into the great hall, that the Inquisitor was sitting at the door with his 
secretary by him, and that he delivered every prisoner into the ha. ids 
of a particular person, who is to be his guard to the place of burinrg. 
These persons are called Parrains, or Godfathers. My Godfather was 
the commander of a chip. I went forth with him, and as soon as we 
were in the street, I saw that the procession was commenced by the 
Dominican Friars, who have this honor, because St. Dominic founded 
the Inquisition. These are followed by the prisoners, who walk one 
after the other, each having his Godfather by his side, and a lighted 
taper in his hand. The least guilty go foremost ; and as I did not 
pass for one of them, there were many who took precedence of m<i. 
The women were mixed promiscuously with the men. We all 
walked barefoot, and the sharp stones of the streets of Goa wounded 
jjjy tender feet, and caused the blood to stream; for they made us 



INQUISITION OF GOA. 377 

was restored in 1779, subject to certain restrictions, 
the chief of which are tiie two following: ^That a 
greater number of witnesses sliould be required to 
convict a criminal then were before necessary;' and 

march through the chief streets of the city ; and we were regarded 
«very where by an innumerable crowd of people, who had assembled 
from all parts of India to behold this spectacle ; for the Inquisition 
lakes pains to announce it long before, in the most remote parishes. 
At length we arrived at the church of St. Francis, which was, for this 
time, destined for the celebration of the Act of Faith, On one side 
of the Altar, was the Grand Inquisitor and his Councellors, and on 
the other the Viceroy of Goa and his Court, All the prisoners 
are seated to hear a sermon. I observed that those prisoners who 
wore the horrible Carrochas came in last in the procession. Orve 
of the Augustin Monks ascended the pulpit, and preached for a 
quarter of an hour. The sermon being concluded, two readers 
went ap to the pulpit, one after the other, and read the sentences 
of the prisoners. My joy was extreme, when I heard that my 
sentence was not to be burnt, but to be a galley slave for five 
years. After the sentences were read, they summoned forth 
those miserable victims who were destined to he immolated by 
the Holy Inquisition. The images of the heretics who had died 
in the prison were brought up at the same time, their bones being 
contained in small chests, covered with flames and demons. An 
officer of the secular tribunal now came forward, and seized these 
unhappy people, after they had each received a slight blow upon 
the breast, from the Alcaide, to intimate that they were abandoned. 
They were then led away to the bank of the river, where the 
Viceroy and his Court were assembled, and where the faggots 
had been prepared the proceeding day. As soon as they arrive 
at this place, the condemned persons are asked in what religion 
they choose to die ; and the moment they have replied to this 
question, the executioner seizes them, and binds them to a stake 
in the midst of the faggots. The day after the execution, the 
jrortraits of the dead are carried to the Church of Dominioans. 
The heads only are represented (which are generally very accu- 

42 



378 INQUISITION OF GOA. 

« That the Auto da Fe should not be held publicly a'S 
"before; but that the sentences of the tribunal should 
be executed privately, within the walls of the Inqui* 
sition.' 

"In this particular, the constitution of the new 
Inquisition is more reprehensible than that of the old 
one; for as the old father expressed it, Nunc sigillum 
non revelat Inquisito.' Formerly the friends of 
those unfortunate persons who were thrown into its 
prison, had the melancholy satisfaction of seeing 
them once a year walking in the procession of the 
Auto da Fe; or, if they were condemned to die, they 

witnessed their death, and mourned for the dead. 
But now they have no means of learning for years 
whether they be dead or alive. The policy of this 
new code of concealment appears to be this, to pre- 
serve the power of the Inquisition, and at the same 
time to lessen the public odium of its proceedings, in 
the presence of British dominion and civilization. I 
asked the father his opinion concerning the nature 
and frequency of the punishment within the walls. 
He said he possessed no certain means of giving a 
satisfactory answer; that every thing transacted 
there was declared to be sacrum et secretum.' But 
this he knew to be true, that there were constantly 
"captives in the dungeons; that some of them are 
liberated after long confinement, but that they never 

lately drawn ; for the Inquisition keeps excellent limners for the 
purpose,) surrounded by flames and demons ; and underneath is 
vke name and crime of the person who had been burned." — Mela- 
Hon df, V Inquisition de Goa, chap. xxiv. 



IXqTTlSlTIOJf OF GOA. 379 

s.T^sak afterwards of what passed within the place. 
He added that, of all the persons he had known, 
who had been liberated, he never knew one who did 
Mot carry about with him what might be called, ^the 
mark of the Inqnisition-,' that is to say, who did not 
s'l ow in the solemnity of his countenance, or in his 
peculiar demeanor, or his terror of the priests, that 
he liad been in that dreadful place. 

''Tiie chief argurneitt q[ the Inquisitor, to prove 
t}v3 melioration of the Inquisition, was the superior 
kumaruty of the loquisiiors. I remarked that I did 
raot doubt ihe humanity of th« existing officers; but 
what availed humanity i\\ an Inquisitor? he must 
pronounce sentence a,ccording to the laws of the 
Tribunal, which are notorious enough; and a rt- 
lapsed Heretic must be burned in the flames, or con- 
fined for life in a dungeon, whether the Inquisitor be 
humane or not. But ii^ said I, you would satisfy 
my mind completely on this subject, ^show rne the 
inquisition.^ He said it was not permitted to any 
person to see the Inquisition. I observed that mine 
might be considered a peculiar case; that the char- 
acter of the Inquisiti-on, and the expediency of its 
long continuance, had been called in question; that 
I myself had writteii on the civilization of India, 
and might possibly publish something more on the 
subject, and that it could not be expected that I 
should pass over the Inquisition without notice, 
knowing whai I did of its proceedings; at the same 
time I should not Av^isli to state a single fact without 
liis authority, or at least his admission of its truth. I 
added, that he himself had been pleased to commu- 
nicate with me very fully on the subject, and that in 
all our discussions we had both been actuated, I 
hoped, bv a good purpose. The countenance of the 
Inquisitor evidently altered on receiving this intima- 
iioii, nor did it ever after wholly regam its wonted 



380 INQUISITION OF GOA. 

frankness and placidity. After some hesitation, 
however, he said, he would take me with him to 
tlie Inquisition the next day. I was a good deal 
surprised at this acquiescence of the Inquisitor, but I 
did not know what was in his mind. 

"Next morning, after breakfast, my host went to 
dress for the Holy Office, and soon returned in his 
inquisitorial robes. He said he would go half an 
hour before the usual time, for the purpose of show- 
ing me the Inquisition. The buildings are about 
a quarter of a mile distant from the convent, and we 
proceeded thither in our Miwjeels. On our arrival 
^t the place, the inquisitor said to me, as we were 
ascendmg the steps of the outer stair, that he hoped 
I should be satisfied with a transcient view of the 
inquisition, and that I would retire whenever he 
should desire it. I took this as a good omen, and 
followed my conductor with tolerable confidence. 

"He led me first to the great hall of the Inquisi- 
tion. We were met at the door by a number of 
well-dressed persons, who, I afterwards understood, 
were the familiars, and attendants of the Holy Office ; 
They bowed very low to the inquisitor, and looked 
with surprise at me. The great hall is the place in 
which the prisoners are marshalled for the procession 
of the Auto da Fe. At the procession described by 
Dellon, in which he himself walked barefoot, clothed 
with the painted garment, there were upwards of 
one hundred and fifty prisoners. I traversed this 
hall for sometime, with a slow step, reflecting on its 
former scenes ; the inctnisitor walked by my side, in 
silence. I thought of the fate of the multitude of my 
fellow-creatures who had passed through this place, 
condemned by a tribunal of their fellow-sinners, their 
bodies devoted to the flames, and their souls to per- 
dition. And I could not help saying to him, 'Would 
not tlie holy church \vishj in her mercy, to haye thpsa 



INQUISITION OP GO A, 381 

souls back again, that she might allow them a little 
further probation V The inquisitor answered no- 
thing, but beckoned me to go with him to a door at 
one end of the hall. By this door he conducted me 
to some small rooms, and thence to the spacious 
apartments of the chief inquisitor. Having surveyed 
these, he brought me back again to the great hall; 
and I thought he seemed now desirous that I should 
depart. 'Now father,' said I, 4ead me to the dun- 
geons below, I want to see the captives.' 'No,' said 
he, 'that cannot be.' I now began to suspect that it 
had been in the mind of the Inquisitor, from the be- 
ginning, to show me only a certain part of the inqui- 
sition, in the hope of satisfying my inquiries in a 
general way. I urged him with earnestness, but he 
steadily resisted, and seemed to be offended, or rather 
agitated, by my importunity. I intimated to him 
plainly, that the only way to do justice to his own 
assertions and arguments, regarding the present state 
of the Inquisition, was to show me the prisons and 
captives. I should then describe only what I saw ; 
but now the subject was left in awful obscurity. 
*Lead me down,' said I, 'to the inner building, and 
let me pass through the two hundred dungeons, ten 
feet square, described by your former captives. Let 
me count the number of your present captives, and 
converse with them. I want to see if there are any 
subjects of the British government, to whom we owe 
protection. I want to ask how long they have been 
here, how long it is since they beheld the light of the 
sun, and whether they ever expect to see it again. 
Show me the chamber of Torture ; and declare what 
modes of execution or of punishment, are now 
practised within the walls of the Inquisition, in lieu 
of the public Auto da Fe. If, after all that has 
passed. Father, you resist this reasonable request, I 

sUail be justified in believing that you are afraid of 

42* 



S82 INQUISITION OP GOA. 

exposing the real state of the Inquisition in India.' 
To these observations the inquisitor made no reply; 
but seemed impatient that I should withdraw. 'My 
good Father/ said I, 'I am about to take my leave 
of you, and thank you for your hospitable attentions, 
(it had been before understood that I should take 
my final leave at the door of the Inquisition, after 
having seen the interior,) and I wish always to pre- 
serve on my mind a favorable sentiment of your 
kindness and candor. You cannot, you say, show 
me the captives and the dungeons ; be pleased then 
merely to answer this question, for I shall believe 
your word: How many prisoners are there now 
below, in the cells of the Inquisition?'' The inqui- 
sitor replied, 'That is a question which I cannot 
answer.' (>n his pronouncing these words, I re- 
tired hastily towards the door, and wished him 
farewell.' We shook hands with as much cordiality 
as we could at the moment assume ; and both of us, 
I believe, were sorry that our parting took place with 
a clouded countenance. 

*'From the Inquisition I went to the place of burn- 
ing in the Campo Santo Lazaro, on the river side, 
where the victims were brought to the stake at the 
Auto da Fe. It is close to the palace, that the Vice- 
roy and his court may witness the execution ; for it 
has ever been the policy of the inquisition to make 
these spiritual executions appear to be the executions 
of the state. An old priest accompanied me, who 
pointed out the place, and described the scene. As 
I passed over this melancholy plain, I thought of the' 
difference between the pure and benign doctrine, 
which was first preached to India in Apostolic age, 
and that bloody code, which after a long night of 
darkness, was announced to it under the same name ! 
And I pondered on the mysterious dispensation, 
which permitted the ministers of the inquisition, with 



INQUISITION OF GOA. 3S3 

their racks and flames, to visit these lands, before 
the heralds of the Gospel of Peace. But the most 
painful reflection was, that this tribunal should yet 
exist, unawed by the vicinity of British humanity 
and dominion. I was not satisfied with what I had 
seen or said at the Inquisition, and I determined to 
go back again. The inquisitors were now sitting on 
the tribunal, and I had some excuse for returning; 
for I was to receive from the chief inquisitor a letter 
which he said he would give me, before I left the 
place, for the British Resident in Travancore, being 
an answer to a letter from that officer. 

" When I arrived at the Inquisition, and had as- 
cended the outer stairs, the door-keepers surveyed me 
doubtingly, bat suffered me to pass, supposing that I 
had returned by permission and appointment of the 
inquisitor. I entered the great hall, and went up di- 
rectly towards the tribunal of the Inquisition^ de- 
scribed by Dell on, in which is the lofty crucifix. I sat 
down on a form and wrote some notes ; and then de- 
sired one of the attendants to carry in my name to the 
inquisitor. As I walked up the hall, I saw a poor wo- 
man sitting by herself, on a bench by the wall, appa- 
rently in a disconsolate state of mind. She clasped 
her hands as I passed, and gave me a look expressive 
of her distress. This sight chilled my spirits. The 
familiars told me she was waiting there to be called 
up before the tribunal of the Inquisition. While I 
was asking questions concerning her crime, the 
second inquisitor came out in evident trepidation, 
and was about to complain of the intrusion, when I 
informed him that I had come back for^the letter from 
the chief inquisitor. He said it should be sent after me 
to Goa; and he conducted me with a quick step 
towards the door. As we passed the poor woman, I 
pointed to her, and said, with some em.phasis, ^Be- 
hold, Father, another victim of the holy Inquisition I 



3S4 INQUISITION or GOA. 

His answered nothing. When we arrived at the 
head of the great stair, he bowed, and I took my last 
leave of Josephus a Doloribus, without uttering a 
word. 



Note. — The Inquistion of Goa was abolished in the 
month of October, 1812. 



THE 

INaUlSlTIOX AT McVCERATA. 

IN ITALY. 

Narrative of Mr. Bower ^ who gives an account of 
this Court of Inquisition, and of secrets hitherto 
iinkiiGwn, relative to their proceedings agaiJist 
heretics. 

[Meth. Mag. 3d Vol.] 

" I never (says Mr. Bower,) pretended that it v/as 
for the sake of religion alone, that I left Italy; but 
on the contrary, have often declared, as ail my 
friends can attest, that, had I never belonged to the 
Inquisition, I should have gone on, as most Roman 
Catholics do. without ever questioning the truth of 
the religion I was brought up in, or thinking of any 
other. But the unheard of cruelties of that helhsh 
tribunal shocked me beyond all expression, and 
rendered me, as I was obliged, by my offi.ce of Coun- 
sellor, to be accessary to them, one of the most unhappy 
men upon earth. I therefore began to think of resign- 
ing my office; but as I had on several occasions, betray- 
ed some weakness, as they termed it, that is, some com- 
passion and humanity, and had upon that accoimt 
been reprimanded by the Inquisitor, I was well 
apprized, that my resignation would be ascribed by 
him to my disapproving the proceedings of the holy 
tribunal. And indeed, to nothing else could he have 
ascribed it, as a place at that board was a sure way 
to preferment, and attended with great privileges, 
and a considerable salary. Being, therefore, sensible 
how dangerous a thing it would be to give the least 
grotind to any suspicion of that nature, and no longer 



3SS INQUISITION AT MACE RATA. 

able to bear the sight of the many barbarities prac^ 
tised aUnost daily within those walls, nor the 
reproaches of my conscience in bein^^ acessary to 
them, I determined, after many restless nights, and 
much deliberation with myself, to withdraw at the 
same time from the Inquisitor, and from Italy. In 
this mind, and in the most unhappy and tormenting 
situation that can possibly be imagined, I continued 
near a twelvemonth, not able to prevail upon myself 
to execute the resolution I had taken, on account of 
the many dangers which I foresaw would inevitably 
attend it, and the dreadful consequences of my failing 
in the attempt. But, being in the mean time, order- 
ed by the Inquisitor to apprehend a person, with 
whom I lived in the greatest intimacy and friendship, 
the part I was obliged to act on that occasion, left 
so deep an impression in my mind as soon prevailed 
over all my fears, and made me determine to put 
into execution, at all events, and without further 
delay, the design I had formed. Of that remarkable 
transduction, therefore, I shall give here a particular 
account, the rather as it will show in a very strong 
light, the nature of the proceedings in that horrid 
court. 

The person whom the inquisitor appointed me to 
apprehend, was Count Vicenzo della Torre, descen- 
ded from an illustrious family in Germany, and 
possessed of a very considerable estate in the terri- 
tory of Macerata. He was one of my very particu- 
lar friends, and had lately married the daughter of 
Signior Constantini, of Fermo, a lady no less famous 
for her good sense than her beauty. With her 
family too, I had contracted an intimate acquaintance, 
while Professor of Rhetoric in Fermo, and had often 
attended the Count during his courtship, from Mace- 
rata to Fermo, but fifteen miles distant. I therefore 
lived with both in the greatest friendship and inti- 



INQUISITION AT MACERATA. 389 

macy; and the count was the only person that lived 
with me, after I was made Comisellor of the Inquisi- 
tion, upon the same free footing as he had done till 
that time: my other friends being grown shy of me, 
and giving me plainly to understand, that they no 
longer cared for my company. 

As this unhappy young gentleman was one day 
walking with another, he met two Capuchin friars; 
and turning to his companion, when they were 
pissed, 'What fools/ said he, 'are these, to think they 
shall gain heaven by wearing sackcloth and going 
bare-foot ! Fools indeed, if they think so, or that there 
is any merit in tormenting one's self; they might as 
well live as we do, and they would get to heaven 
quite as soon.' Who informed against him, whether 
the friars, his companion, or somebody else, I knew 
not; for the Inquisitors never tell the names of the 
informers to the Counsellors, nor the names of the 
witnesses, lest they should except against them. It 
is to be observed, that all who hear any proposition, 
that appears to them repugnant to, or inconsistent 
with the doctrine of the holy mother church, is bound 
to reveal it to the Inquisitor, and likewise to discover 
the person by whom it was uttered ; and, in this 
affair, no regard is to be had to any ties, however 
sacred ; the brother being bound to accuse the brother, 
the father to accuse the son, the son the father, the 
wife her husband, and the husband his wife ; and all 
bound on pain of eternal damnation, and of being 
deemed and treated as accomplices, if they do not 
denounce in a certain time; and no confessor can 
absolve a person Avho has heard any thing said, in 
jest or in. earnest, against the belief or practice of the 
church, till that person has informed the Inquisitor 
of it, and given him all the intelligence he can con- 
cerning the person by whom it was said. 

Whoever it was that informed against my un- 

43 



390 



INQUISITION AT MACERATA. 



happy friend, whether the friars, his companion, OT 
somebody else wha might have overheard him, the 
Inquisitor acquainted the board one night (for to be 
less observed, they commonly meet, out of Rome, in 
the night) that the abovementioned propositions had 
been advanced gravely, at the sight of two poor 
Capuchins^: that the evidence was unexceptionable ; 
and that they were therefore met to determine the 
quality of the proposition, and proceed against the 
delinquent agreeably to that determination. There 
are in each Inquisition twelve counsellors, viz. four 
Divines, four Canonists, and four Civilians. It is 
chiefly the province of the divines to determine the 
quality of the proposition, viz. Whether it is hereti- 
cal, or only savors of heresy; whether it is blas- 
phemous and injurious to God and his saints, or 
only erroneous, rash, schismatical, or offensive to 
pious ears. 

That part of the proposition, ^ Fools, if they think 
that there is any merit in tormenting one's self,' was 
judged and declared heretical, as openly contradict- 
ing the doctrine and practice of holy mother church, 
recommending austerities as highly meritorious. 
The inquisitor observed, on this occasion, that by 
the proposition, 'Fools, indeed,' &c. were taxing 
with folly not only the holy fathers, who had all to 
a man practised great austerities, but St. Paul him- 
self, who 'chastised his body,' that is, whipped him- 
self, as the inquisitor understood it, adding that the 
practice of whipping one's self, so much recommended 
by all the founders of religious orders, was borrowed 
of the great apostle of the gentiles. 

The proposition being declared heretical, it was 
imanimously agreed by the b oar ct, that the person 
who had uttered it, should be apprehended and pro- 
ceeded against agreeably to the laws of the Inquisi- 
tion. And now the person was named ; for till it 



INQUISITION AT MACERATA. 391 

is determined whether the accused person should or 
should not be apprehended, his name is kept con- 
cealed from the counsellors, lest they should be 
biased, says the directory, in his favor, or against 
iiim. For, in many instances, they keep up to an 
appearance of justice and equity, at the same time 
that, in truth, they act in direct opposition to all the 
known laws of justice and equity. No words can 
express the concern and astonishment it gave me to 
hear, on such an occasion, the name of a friend for 
whom I had the greatest esteem and regard. The in- 
quisitor was apprized of it; and, to give mean oppor- 
tunity of practising what he had so often recom- 
mended to me, viz. of conquering nature with the 
assistance of grac^, he appointed me to apprehend 
the criminal, as he styled him, and to lodge him safe, 
before day-light, in the prison of the holy Inquisition. 
I oifered to excuse myself, but with the greatest 
submission, from being any ways concerned in the 
execution of that order ; an order, I said, which I 
entirely approved of, and only wished it might be 
|)ut in execution by some other person; for your 
lordship knows, I said, the connexion. But the 
Inquisitor shocked at the word, 'What?' said he, 
with a stern look and angry tone of voice, 'talk of 
connexions where the faith is concerned? there is 
your guard, (pointing to the Sbirri or baliffs, in 
waiting,) let the criminal be secured in St. Luke's 
cell (one of the worst) before three in the morning.' — 
He then withdrew with the rest of the counsellors, 
and as he passed me, ^Thus,' he said, 'nature is 
conquered.*'' I had betrayed some weakness, or sense 
of humanity, not long before, in fainting away while 
I attended the torture of one who was racked with 
the utmost barbarity; and I had, on that occasion, 
been reprimanded by the Inquisitor for suffering 
nature to get the better of grace; it being an inex- 



392 INQUISITION AT MACEKATA. 

cusable weakness, as he observed, to be any way 
affected with the suffering of the body, howevej 
great, when afflicted, as they ever are in the Holy 
Inquisition, for the good of the soul. And it was, I 
presume, to make trial of the effect this reprimand 
had upon me, that the execution of this cruel order 
was committed to me. As I could by no possible 
means decline it, I summoned all my resolution, aftei 
passing an hour by myself, I may say in the agonies 
of death, and set out a little after two in the morning, 
for my unhappy friend's house, attended by a notary 
of the Inquisition, and six armed Sbirri. 

We arrived at the house by different wa37's, and 
knocking at the door, a maid-servant looked out of 
the window, and inquiring who knocked, was ans- 
wered the Holy Inquisition, and at the same time, 
ordered to awake nobody, but to come down directly 
and open the door, on pain of excommunication. At 
these words, the servant hastened down, half naked 
as she was, and having with much ado, in her great 
fright, at last opened the door, she conducted us, as 
she was ordered, pale and trembling, to her master's 
bed-chamber. She often looked very earnestly at 
me, as she knew me, and showed a great desire of 
speaking to me; but of her 1 durst take no kind of 
notice. I entered the bed-chamber with the notary, 
followed by the Sbirri, when the lady awakening at 
the noise, and seeing the bed surrounded by armed 
men, screamed out aloud, and continued screaming, 
as out of her senses, till one the Sbirri, provoked at 
the noise, gave her a blow on the forehead, that made 
the blood run down her face, and she swooned away. 
I rebuked the fellow very severely, and ordered him 
to be whipped as soon as I returned to the Inquisi- 
tion. 

In the meantime the husband awakening, and 
seeing me with my attendants, cried out in tbo 



INQUISITIOX AT MACERATA. 393 

Utmost surprise, 'Mr. Bower V He said then no more ; 
nor could I for some time, utter a single word; and it 
was with much ado that, in the end, I masteredmy grief ^ 
so far as to be able to let my unfortunate friend know 
that he was a prisoner of the Holy Inquisition. 'Of 
the Holy Inquisition ! he replied, alas ! what have I 
done ? My dear friend, be my friend now.' He 
said many affecting things; but as I knew it was not 
in my power to befriend him, I had not the courage 
to look him in the face, but turning my back to him, 
withdrew, while he dressed, to a corner of the room, 
to give vent to my grief there. The notary stood 
by him while he dressed, and as I observed, quite 
unaffected. Indeed, to be void of all humanity, to 
be able to behold one's fellow-creatures groaning and 
ready to expire in the most exquisite torments cruelty 
can invent without be'ng in the least affected with 
their sufferings, is one of the chief qualifications of 
an Inquisitor ; must strive to attain it. It often 
happens, at that infernal tribunal, that while an 
unhappy, and probably an innocent person is crying 
out in their presence on the rack, and begging by all 
that is sacred for one moment's relief, in a manner 
one would think no human heart could withstand; it 
often happens, I say, that the Inquisitor and the rest 
of that inhuman crew, quite unaffected with his 
complaints, and deaf to his groans, to his tears and 
entreaties, are entertaining one another with the 
news of the town; nay, sometimes they even insult, 
with unheard of barbarity, the unhappy wretches 
in the height of their torment. 

To return to my unhappy prisoner; he was no 
sooner dressed, than I ordered the Bargello, or head 
of the Sbirri, to tie his hands with a cord behind his 
back, as is practised on such occasions, without dis- 
tinction of persons; no more regard being shown by 
the Inquisition to men of the first rank, when charged 

43* 



394 INQUISITION AT MACERATA. 

with heresy, than to the meanest artificers. Heresy 
dissolves all friendship ; so that I durst no longer 
look upon the man with whom I had lived in the 
greatest friendship and intimacy as my friend, or 
show him, on that account, the least regard or 
indulgence. 

As we left the chamber, the countess, who had 
been conveyed out of the room, met us, and^screaming 
out m a most pitiful manner, upon seeing her hus- 
band with his hands tied behind his back, like a thief 
or robber, flew to embrace him, and hanging on his 
neck, begged, with a flood of tears, we would be so 
merciful as to put an end to her life, that she miglit 
have the satisfaction, the only satisfaction she wished 
for in this world, of dying in the bosom of the man 
whom she had vowed never to part with. The 
count, overwhelmed with grief, did not utter a single 
word. I could not find in my heart, nor was I in a 
condition to interpose; and indeed, a scene of greater 
distress was never beheld by human eyes. How- 
ever, I gave signal to the notary to part them, which 
he did accordingly, quite unconcerned; but the 
countess fell into a swoon, and the count was, in the 
meantime, carried down stairs, and out of the house 
aipidst the loud lamentations and sighs of his ser- 
vants, on all sides ; for he was a man remarkable for 
the sweetness of his temper, and his kindness to all 
about him. 

Being arrived at the Inquisition, I consigned my 
prisoner into the hands of the goaler, a lay brother 
of St. Dominic, who shut him up in the dungeon 
mentioned above, and delivered the key Xo me. I 
lay that night in the palace of the Inquisition, where 
every counsellor has a room, and returned next 
morning the key to the inquisitor, telling him that 
his order had been punctually complied with. The 
inquisitor had been already informed of my whole 



INQUISITION AT MACERATA. 395 

conduct by the notary; and therefore, upon my dehv- 
ering the key to him, 'You have acted (said he,) hke 
one who is desirous at least to overcome with the 
assistance of grace, the incUnations of nature; that 
is, like one who is desirous, with the assistance of 
grace, to metamorphose himself from a human crea- 
ture, into a brute or a devil. 

In the Inquisition, every prisoner is kept the first 
week of his imprisonment, in a dark narrow dungeon, 
so low that he cannot stand upright in it, without 
seeing any body but the jailer, who brings him, 
every other day, his portion of bread and water, the 
only food that is allowed him. This is done, they 
sa3^, to tame him, and render him, thus weakened, 
more sensible of the torture, and less able to bear it. 
At the end of the w^eek, he is brought in the night 
before the board to be examined ; and on that occa- 
sion, my poor friend appeared so altered, in a week^s 
time that, had it not been for his dress, I should not 
have known him ; and indeed no wonder ; a change 
of condition so sudden and unexpected; the un- 
worthy and barbarous treatment he had already met 
with; the apprehension of what he might, and pro- 
bably should suffer; and perhaps, more than any 
thing else, the distressed and forlorn condition of his 
once happy wife, whom he tenderly loved, whose 
company he had enjoyed only six months, could be 
attended with no other effect. Being asked, accord- 
ing to custom, whether he had any enemies, and 
desired to name them; he answered, that he bore 
enmity to no man, and hoped th:^t no man bore 
enmity to him. For as, in the Inquisition, the person 
accused is not told of the charge brought against 
him, nor of the person by whom it is brought ; the 
Inquisitor asks him whether he has any enemies, 
and desires him to name them. If he names the 
informer, all further proceedings are stopped till the 



396 INQUISITION AT MACERATA. 

informer is examined anew; and if the information 
is found to proceed from ill-will, and no collateral 
proof can ^e produced, the prisoner is discharged. 
Of this piece of justice they frequently boast, at the 
same time that they admit, both as informers and 
witnesses, persons of the most infamous characters, 
and such as are excluded by all other courts. In the 
next place, the prisoner is ordered to swear that he 
will declare the truth, and conceal nothing from the 
holy tribunal, concerning himself or others, that he 
knows, and the holy tribunal is desirous to know. 
He is then interrogated for what crime he has been 
apprehended and imprisoned by the Holy Court of 
the Inquisition, of all courts the most equitable, the 
most cautious, the most merciful. To that interro- 
gatory the count answered, with a faint and tremb- 
ling voice, that he was not concious to himself of any 
crime,, cognizable by that Holy Court, nor indeed by 
any other; that he believed, and ever had believed 
whatever holy mother church believed, or required 
him to believe. He had, it seems, quite forgot what 
he had unthinkingly said at the sight of the two 
friars. The Inquisitor, therefore, finding he did not 
remember, or would not own his crime, after many 
deceitful interrogatories, and promises which he 
never intended to fulfil, ordered him back to his 
dungeon, and allowing him another week, as is 
customary in such cases, to recollect himself, told 
him, that if he could not in that time prevail upon 
himself to declare the truth, agreeable to his oath, 
means would be found of forcing it from him; and he 
must expect no mercy. 

At the end of the week he was brought again 
before the infernal tribunal, and being asked the 
same questions, returned the same answers, adding, 
that if he had done or said any thing amiss, unwit- 
tingly or ignorantly, he was ready to own it provided 



INQUISITION AT MACERATA. 397 

the least hint of it were given him by any there pre- 
sent, which he entreated them most earnestly to do. 
He often looked at me, and seemed to expect, which 
gave me such concern as no words can express, that 
I should say something in his favor. Bat I was not 
allov/ed to speak on this occasion, nor was any of 
the counsellors; and had Ibeen allowed to speak, I 
durst not have said any thing in his favor; the advo^ 
cate appointed by the inquisition, and commonly 
styled, 'The Devil's Advocate,' being the only per- 
son that is suffered to speak for the prisoner. I'his 
advocate belongs to the Inquisition, receives a salary 
of the Inquisition, and is bound by an oath to aban- 
don the defence of the prisoner if he undertakes it, 
or not to undertake it, if he finds it cannot be defend- 
ed agreeably to the laws of the Holy Inquisition; so 
that the whole is mere sham and imposition. I have 
heard this advocate, on other occasions, allege some- 
thing in favor of the person accused; but on this oc- 
casion he declared that he had nothing to offer in 
defence of the criminal. 

In the Inquisition, the person accused is always 
supposed guilty, unless he has named the accuser 
among his enemies: and he is put to the torture if 
he does not plead guilty, and own the crime that is 
laid to his charge, without being so much as told 
what it is ; whereas, in all other courts, where 
tortures are used, the charge is declared to the party 
accused before he is tortured ; nor are they ever in- 
flicted without a credible evidence brought of his 
guilt. But in the inquisition, a man is frequently 
tortured upon the deposition of a person whose evi- 
dance would be admitted in no other court, and in 
all cases without hearing his charge. As my unfor- 
timate friend continued to maintain his innocence, 
not recollecting what he had said, he was, agreeably 
to the laws of the Inquisition, put to the torture. 



S9S INQUISITION AT MACERATA. 

He had scarce borne it 'twenty minutes, crying out 
the whole time, 'Jesus Maria,' when his voice failed 
him at once, and he fainted away. He was then 
supported, as he hung by his arms, by two of the 
Sbirri, whose province it is to manage the torture, 
till he returned to himself. He still continued to 
declare that he could not recollect his having said or 
done any thing contrary to the Catholic faith, and 
earnestly begged they would let him know with what 
he was charged, being ready to own it, if it was 
true. The Inquisitor was then so gracious as to put 
him in mind of what he had said on seeing the two 
Capuchins. The reason why they so long conceal 
from the patry accused, the crime he is charged with 
is, that if he should be conscious to himself of his 
having ever said or done any thing contrary to the 
faith, which he is not charged with, he may discover 
that too, imagining it to be the very crime he is 
accused of. After a short pause, the goor gentleman 
owned that he had said something to that purpose ; 
but, as he had said it with no evil intention, he had 
never more thought of it from that time to the 
present. He added, but with so faint a voice as 
scarce could be iieard, that for his rashness, he was 
willing to undergo what punishment soever the holy 
tribunal should think fit to impose on him; and he 
again fainted away. Being eased for a while of his 
torment, and retiu*ned to himself, he was interrogated 
by the promoter fiscal (whose business it is to accuse 
and to proseciUe, as neither the informer nor the 
witnesses are ever to appear) concerning his inten- 
tion. For, in the Inquisition, it is not enough for 
the party accused to confess the fact, he must like- 
wise declare whether his intention was heretical or 
not : and many, to redeem themselves from the tor- 
ments they can no longer endure, own their intention 
was heretical, though it really was not. My poor 



INQUISITION AT MACERATA. 399 

friend often told ns he was ready to say whatever 
he pleased; but, as he never directly acknowledged 
his intention to have been heretical, as is required 
by the rules of that court, he was kept on the torture 
till, quite overcome with the violence of the anguish, 
he was ready to expire; and being then taken down 
he was carried quite senseless, beck to his dungeon ; 
and there, on the third day, death pur. an end to his 
sufferings. The inquisitor wrote a note to his 
widow, to desire her to pray for the soul of her late 
husband, and warn her not to complain of the holy 
inquisition, as capable of any injustice or cruelty. 
The estate was confiscated to the inquisition, and a 
small jointure allowed out of it to the widow. As 
they had only been married six months, and some 
part of the fortune was not yet paid, the inquisitor 
sent an order to the Constantini family, at Fermo, to 
pay to the holy office, and without delay, what they 
owed to the late count della Torre. For the effects 
of heretics are all ipso facto confiscated to the inqui- 
sition, and confiscated from the very day, not of 
their conviction, but of their crime; so that all dona- 
tions made after that time are void ; and whatever 
they have given, is claimad by the inquisition, into 
whatsoever hands it mas have passed; even the 
fortunes they have given to their daughters in mar- 
riage, have been declared to belong to, and are 
claimed by the Inquisition; nor can it be doubted, 
that the desire of those confiscations is one great 
of the injustice and cruelty of that court. 

The death of the unhappy count della Torre was 
soon publicly known ; but no man cared to speak of 
it, not even his nearest relations, nor so much as to 
mention his name, lest any thing should inadvertently 
escape them that might be construed into a disappro- 
bation of the proceedings of the most holy tribunal; 
so great is the awe all men live in of that jealous and 
merciless court. 



409 INQUISITION AT MAC ERATA. 

The other instance of the cruelty of the Inquisition, 
related in the spurious account of my escape pub- 
lished by Mr. Baron, happened some years before I 
belonged to the Inquisition; and I do not relate it as 
happening in my time, but only as happening in the 
Inquisition of ivlacerata. It is related at length in 
the annals of that Inquisition, and the substance of 
the relation is as follows: An order was sent from 
the high tribunal at Rome, to all the inquisitors 
throughout Italy, enjoining them to apprehend a 
clergyman minutely described in that order. One 
answering the description in many particulars being 
discovered in the diocese of Osimo, at a small dis- 
tance from Macerata, and subject to that inquisition, 
he was there decoyed into the Inquisition, and by an 
order from Rome, so racked as to loose the use of his 
senses. In the mean time the true person being 
apprehended, the unhappy wretch was dismissed by 
a second order from Rome; but he never recovered 
the use of his senses, nor was any care taken of him 
by the Inquisition. Father Piazza, who was then 
Vicar at Osimo to Father Montecuccoli, Inquisitor 
at Macerata, and died some years ago a good Pro- 
testant, at Cambridge, published an account of this 
affair, that entirely agrees with the account I read of 
it in the records of the Inquisition. 

The deep mipression that the death of my un- 
happy friend, the most barbarous and inhuman 
treatment he had met with, and the part I had been 
obliged to act in so affecting a tragedy, made on my 
mind, got at once the better of my fears; so that 
forgetting in a manner the dangers I had till then so 
much apprehended, I resolved, without further delay, 
to put in execution the design I had formed of 
quitting the Inquisition, and bidding forever adieu 
to Italy. 

THE END. 



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